//------------------------------// // The Temple - Part Final // Story: You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Passing through the hole left by the minotaur's hoof, Calliope led the way into the next part of the temple - at Pinkie's insistence, much to the confusion of everyone else. Reaching the top of the stairwell, Calliope stepped back. "It's another tomb," Calliope said. "You want us to wait outside again?" Pinkie suggested. Kratos nodded. "Please." Once they were outside with Fluffy and Leonidas, Kratos examined the inscription. My second son, my last, has followed his brother to the Elysium fields. In my heart, I know I must continue the work of the gods. But they take so much, and at last my soul begins to doubt. Pathos Verdes III Approaching the casket, Kratos once more said what prayers he knew over the body as he carefully removed the lid. Gently cutting the skull from the spinal column, he hid it away in his satchel before closing the casket back up, hoping he had not too drastically disturbed the rest of the fallen soul. Returning to the stairwell, he led his daughters and their pets back through the Temple. On their way back, they came to a gateway bearing the symbol of Olympus, the markings of Hades, and a package with a note. Approaching it, Pinkie picked up the note, then gasped. "It's for me!" she gasped out happily. "Really?" Kratos asked in surprise. "What does it say?" Calliope asked curiously, Leonidas and Fluffy gathering around. "It's from Hades! He says he's really taking my advice to heart, but he's a bit embarrassed by some of the changes he's made. Persephone hasn't woken up yet, but her wings are growing back rapidly." Pinkie grinned widely. "He doesn't know it, but because of how I made the potion, that means he's on the right track!" She read through the note again. "Also, he wants me to know that he'll never forget the gift of a second chance with her I've given him...so he's giving me command of his armies?!" She eagerly ripped open the package. Swirling black fog leaped out of the package, swirling around Pinkie before sinking into her body. As she lifted her forelegs, ethereal skeletons flew out, wielding twin swords. Two of them floated nearby to her, however, whispering. "Oh, sure!" she replied happily, giving each of them a cupcake. "Daddy, the Verdes boys say you don't have to be so bashful about borrowing their skulls to open the Temple up. They don't mind as long as they each get a cupcake!" "Skull keys?" Calliope asked in shock. "Who came up with that idea?" "Hades suggested it," Pinkie pointed out. "A torture on the heart and soul of any noble warrior trying to acquire the Box, that they had to desecrate graves to do so. Also, they thank you for being so respectful about it, Daddy!" Kratos let out a sigh of relief. "My thanks for their forgiveness." He then leaned back with Calliope, Fluffy, and Leonidas to watch Pinkie test her new magic out on the swarm of monsters that arose. In addition to the skeleton wraiths that seemed to be the standard form of the spells, Pinkie was fond of knocking the head of a monster off and conjuring one of the souls to possess it, giving her more physical allies to aid her. Once the monsters stopped manifesting, the group made their way back through the Temple. Back in the chamber of the rings, Kratos used the second skull to open the next door. Since Pinkie and Calliope turned out to not be as bothered by it as he had originally been, let alone how he thought they would be, he did not bother to hide his actions. Once the door opened, the central ring drained of water. Inside the very center of the rings was a crank and a crystal opposite the door. Rotating the crank caused the chamber to rotate. Calliope spoke up. "We must have to rotate the chambers until we can shine the light from the crystal held by those two statues into this crystal here!" she said excitedly. "There's another crank out here we can turn!" Pinkie called out. "So we'll rotate all the rings until we can do that," Kratos instructed. Rotating the rings, eventually they arranged the rings in the proper alignment. "Moment of truth," Kratos said softly. With all eyes on him, he pushed the statues together, causing the crystal to shine. The beam of light shot through the unobstructed passage, illuminating the crystal in the center of the Temple. The entire Temple began to shake and crumble as the statue in the center of the Rings began to rise upward. "I question the validity of this design!" Pinkie called out as she dodged falling rocks. "What if someone made it this far then died from the falling rocks? How does the Temple reset itself for the next adventurers seeking the box?" "Why do you wonder about these things?" Calliope asked as the rocks bounced off her armor. "Someone has to!" Pinkie proclaimed. When the shaking stopped, an elevator remained in the base of the statue. When they approached, Athena's voice could be heard. "Your progress is impressive, Kratos," she intoned, "but be warned. Once you ascend to the upper reaches of the Temple, you will not be able to return without Pandora's Box." "In other words, we should save our progress!" Pinkie whispered to Fluffy, giggling. "We weren't planning on returning without it," Kratos said firmly, gesturing everyone onto the elevator. As the group crowded in, he directed Calliope to pull the switch so they could ascend. Stepping out onto the statue's crossed hands, they rode down to the central edifice. As they stepped off, a strange new enemy awaited them, with a goat like head and wielding a staff with curved blades at either end. It dramatically tossed it forward before leaping to grab it for battle. Midleap, Fluffy chomped on its head and forearms, while Leonidas chomped on its nether regions. They tore the creature in half before devouring it. Pinkie picked up the weapon. "Oh! Me likey!" She spun it easily around her body. She then used it to fight the two other goat-like beasts that appeared, though they had the sense not to act dramatic. Crossing a bridge, they were briefly harassed by a harpy, but before Kratos could respond or slip into a flashback, Pinkie set it on fire. "Those things give me the creeps," she grunted. "Where did you get fire magic?" Kratos asked. "Zephyros." "Why haven't you been using it?" Calliope asked. "Because weapons are more fun, duh!" Pinkie countered. Approaching an inscription on the other side of the bridge, Kratos read from it aloud. The Cliffs of Madness lie before you. In my grieving I fear I may have designed a maze with no way out. If I am right, may the cruel, uncaring gods show you the way Pathos Verdes III ...once loyal subject of the gods. "I've got a better idea!" Pinkie said happily. Grabbing a nearby dead body, she reached into Hades and plucked Pathos Verdes soul out, shoving it into the dead body. "Hey, I've got pull with Hades," she told the displaced spirit. "Guide us through the maze, and I'll see to it you get to spend the rest of your afterlife with your sons. How's that sound?" When Pathos hesitated, Pinkie offered him a cupcake as extra incentive. "This way!" Pathos proclaimed through a mouthful of deliciousness. By following Pathos' directions, working as a team at various puzzles, and transferring Pathos to successively tougher or more versatile monster bodies as they progressed - not to mention a few shortcuts Kratos' wings made possible - the group eventually reached Pathos' tomb. Making their way through the hurdles of this last part of the Temple, they eventually reached the chamber where Pathos himself lay beside his wife. To their surprise, the coffins bearing Pathos' two sons had been moved into the chamber, and Pathos body had been cleaned up to reside in some dignity beside his wife's. The only thing visible was a note bearing the mark of Hades, stating, I keep her promise on my behalf. Find peace in your afterlife, servant of the Gods. Smiling, Pathos faded back into the Underworld, leaving his monster body to dissolve. Walking forward, Kratos discovered that the wife's head had been pre-severed, so her skull could be used to open the final door without desecration. Gravely, Kratos did so. Behind this last gate, they found a spiral passage downward. After clearing through a swarm of harpies and undead archers, they reached the final chamber. There, statues of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades stood watch over a crystal sphere. When Kratos pulled a switch on the sphere, it irised open to reveal the massive chest they had come for. "Pandora's Box," Kratos breathed in amazement as the platform it was on lowered into the floor. Walking up to it, Pinkie nudged the lid. "It won't open here!" she pointed out. "Then we'll just have to take it back to Athens," Calliope concluded. "Come on, girls," Kratos instructed, taking hold of the Box. "Let's take it back to the entrance-" "How are we going to get it down the mountain?" Pinkie asked. "Or for that matter, off Kronos' back?" Kratos shrugged. "We'll figure it out when we get down there. Come on." As he spoke, the platform they were on shot downwards through the Temple. It came to a halt at the entrance corridor. As Kratos began pushing the box out, Pinkie raced to the entrance. "Burning Man!" she called out, waving to the man in question. "We did it! We got the Box!" As she shouted that, a stone spike flew through the entrance, brushing right by her mane, and impaled Kratos through the chest, pinning him to the now locked entrance to the Ring chamber. "Father!" Calliope screamed in fear. "Daddy!" Pinkie wailed. Both girls rushed to Kratos' side. As he felt the life leaving his body, he reached out to them. They each took his hands and held them as all signs of life and soul left him. Pinkie was about to break down into tears, until she saw the harpies flying off with the box, and smelled something on the spike that had slain Kratos. "Ares!" she roared, her sudden rage blazing off of her in a flaming red aura. Calliope clambered onto her back as the pink streak of vengeance raced for Athens, all consideration for safety, logic, or even physics disregarded as she was blinded by fury. To be continued...