The Tale of Tantalus - (2)
With Tantalus still unconscious and tossed carelessly to the floor, Zeus approached me. Flames and lightning crackled with every step he took, while thunder continued to roar from the sky above.
"I'm sorry, brother. I never imagined that bastard Tantalus would do something like this."
"...That madman needs to be thrown straight into Tartarus."
"Since he killed his own child and turned him into food, condemning him to eternal hunger sounds perfect."
Should I summon the goddess of hunger, Limos, to help? No... this insane fool needed to suffer for a very long time. There was no reason to waste Limos's power on him.
Long ago, during the same era as Sisyphus—who had once imprisoned Thanatos—there was another madman. Erysichthon was his name. He had swung an axe at the oak tree cherished by Demeter.
Crack. Thud!
"B-blood is coming from the oak tree!"
"Lord Erysichthon, please stop chopping right now!"
"I will surely take revenge on you... mortal."
The oak bled from its wound and spoke of vengeance, but he paid it no mind and continued cutting the tree down. Having incurred Demeter's wrath, Erysichthon received a visit from a goddess she had sent...
"Food! Bring more food! Sell everything and buy food!"
"Father... you've already eaten enough for sixty people..."
"I'm hungry! Hurry!"
The goddess Demeter had sent cursed Erysichthon with unbearable hunger. It drove the once-wealthy man to squander all his fortune, until finally he devoured his own body and died. That goddess was Limos, the very personification of hunger.
Zeus looked down at the pile of human flesh and spoke to Demeter. Even the King of the Gods, who had lived for countless ages, could not hide his disturbance at such madness from a mortal.
"Demeter. We must visit the three goddesses of fate, the Moirai, and have this poor soul resurrected."
"If we reconstruct his form, we should be able to revive him."
"...Then we'll need to send the soul that arrived in the Underworld back quickly as well."
Just then, the sound of flapping wings came from above. Three goddesses appeared, blood streaming from their eyes and snakes writhing in place of hair. With their bronze wings and torches in hand, these were clearly avatars sent by the three goddesses of vengeance, now descending upon Tantalus.
"You. Killed. Your. Own. Son?"
"You. Shall. Suffer. For. All. Eternity."
"Your. Sins. Will. Never. Be. Forgiven."
The avatars sent by the three goddesses of vengeance were illusions visible only to those who had committed crimes. Tantalus would be tormented by these visions until the day he died.
Wait. If he was tormented by these visions until death... wouldn't that mean he would be freed from them once he actually died?
Poseidon seemed to reach the same conclusion, because he looked at me.
"Hades, how about we throw that despicable wretch into Tartarus while he's still alive?"
That was an excellent idea.
Tantalus jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat. Hadn't he died for deceiving the gods? Zeus's fury had clearly consumed the entire palace... so was this the Underworld?
He tried to move and stand, but his body—tightly bound with ropes—wouldn't budge. With great effort he lifted only his head. What he saw resembled the inside of a cave.
"You've woken up, Tantalus."
Pluto? Is this... the Underworld?!
A chilling aura swirled around him. Following the voice, he saw a figure seated upon a black throne, gazing down at him with sharp eyes. Pluto. Around him stood what appeared to be other Underworld deities—a black-winged male god and a goddess with blue-green hair. Everything was pitch black, and the few torches that provided any light seemed to be losing their brightness. The black darkness emanating from the god on the throne created the illusion that it was devouring the warm torchlight.
"Your. Sins. Will. Never. Be. Forgiven."
"Ugh..."
The hallucination that had been ringing in his ears since earlier now seeped into his mind. It was the goddesses of vengeance after all. As expected, a mere human could not deceive the gods. As Tantalus groaned, the low voice of Pluto reached his ears.
If he stayed silent like this, he would die... but Pluto was also the god of mercy. He had to somehow arouse that compassion...
"Now then... let us discuss the price you must pay for killing your grandson and serving him to his grandfather and relatives."
"Is it such a great crime that I tested the gods?"
"Silence, you worm!"
Boom!
At the roar from the black-winged god standing beside Pluto's throne, Tantalus's head slammed into the floor. But when the master of the Underworld waved his hand, the crushing pressure vanished.
"Hm. Thanatos, please calm yourself for a moment. Even a sinner has the right to offer some defense... Go on, speak."
Tantalus racked his brain with everything he had. The Underworld was entirely Pluto's domain. Even his father Zeus could not interfere here. If he could somehow persuade the god on the throne and earn his mercy, there was still hope...!
But the chances that lies would work on a god were slim. He had killed his son and served him as food, yet none of the gods had actually eaten it. Even the goddesses of vengeance were tormenting him...
"Have you nothing to say?!"
"N-no! It's just that..."
Yes—sympathy! He needed to win sympathy from that black-haired god. The crimes he had committed were sacrilege: stealing the gods' food, preparing a human dish to deceive them. But the rumors he had heard about Pluto... were that he was a benevolent god, more merciful than any other. Unlike the cruel and capricious Olympian gods, if he could persuade this relatively soft-hearted god of mercy...
"Is it such a terrible crime for a human to wish to test the gods?! O Pluto!"
"......"
"Born as Zeus's son and a demigod, I have always harbored questions! The tales of the gods are not only filled with beautiful legends—there are also stories of them tormenting mortals or making mistakes! I merely expressed a small curiosity about what kind of beings you gods truly are, so please forgive me with mercy!"
"......"
"I believe I have already been punished for my sacrilege through death! Please take pity on me and allow me a peaceful death! O god of mercy...!"
Having said this much, Tantalus carefully observed the expression of the being on the throne. For some reason, the surrounding gods remained silent. Unease gradually crept over him at their reaction. After a brief silence, Pluto, who had been staring at him sharply, suddenly burst into laughter. It was not a hearty laugh. It was mockery...!?
Had he failed to persuade the god?
"Hahaha! You think you're dead? No, you are still alive. It is only because Thanatos has not yet claimed your soul."
"What?"
"And from the beginning, your greatest crime was neither attempting to deceive the gods nor stealing the ambrosia and nectar."
"...!?"
"I listened to your excuses out of curiosity after you killed your own son, and this is all you have to say?"
Only then did Tantalus realize his mistake. The mercy he had tried to exploit from Pluto... extended even to his son.
"Th-that was..."
"If you had only stolen the ambrosia and nectar, your sentence would have ended with several decades of hard labor in the Underworld. If you had died for deceiving the gods without harming anyone else, I would have considered that and given you an appropriate punishment."
"Ah..."
"Yet you never once mentioned killing your son. Not even a shred of guilt... Your sentence has been decided."
Tantalus desperately tried to offer more excuses, but no voice came out. As he struggled to speak, the Lord of the Underworld calmly pronounced his judgment.
"Murder is a sin. Killing your own son makes it a grave crime. Furthermore, you deceived your relatives into eating your son's flesh, making it an even greater atrocity."
"......!"
"You could not atone for all these wrongs even after tens of thousands of years. Therefore, you shall be sent to Tartarus..."
"......!!!"
"...where you will suffer from insatiable hunger that can never be satisfied, and at regular intervals, Cerberus will tear out and devour your intestines."
Tantalus thrashed wildly, trying to shake off the hands of the shades holding him. But there was no way a mere mortal could resist the power of the specters escorting a sinner. The madman who had cooked his own son had received his rightful punishment.
I watched Tantalus's final moments as the shades dragged him away. Just as the eagle had torn at Prometheus's liver, Cerberus would now periodically feast on Tantalus's intestines. It was a good way to provide food for the divine beast who was always drooling with hunger. Even if his organs were continuously ripped out by the gatekeeper of the Underworld, Tantalus would not die. He would regenerate. Not only would Thanatos refuse to take his soul, but I would make sure he remained alive.
Still, why had the gods so readily attended the banquet hosted by Tantalus after he stole the ambrosia and nectar? Perhaps they had anticipated his rudeness and wanted justification to severely punish him, as he was Atlas's son-in-law... Or maybe it served as an indirect warning? With proper justification on our side, it would prove to the remaining Titan gods on the surface that the balance of power in the world had definitively shifted... Since he was also Zeus's son, we could say we had suppressed our grief and punished him accordingly.
...No. I shouldn't overthink it. I hadn't asked Zeus directly, so it might just be my own speculation.
"I've... never seen a human like that before."
"Don't be too shocked, Mente. Once you live for a long time as a god, you encounter all sorts of things."
Mente stared blankly at the spot where Tantalus had been taken. She seemed quite shaken. Well, she had originally been a naiad living peacefully by the river. When she served as my priestess, all humans had revered her, and after becoming a goddess she had mostly focused on spreading mint plants or handling paperwork. This must have been an unfamiliar sight. She rarely even attended the trials of the dead.
Even so, Tantalus really had been an exceptionally insane human...
"To think there are humans like that... Humans really are..."
The goddess of mint shook her head, openly displaying her disgust. Oh dear... if her thoughts flowed in that direction, it wouldn't be good. It seemed Tantalus's case had planted some prejudices in her mind. I spoke to her as she lowered her head with a slightly gloomy expression.
Since both Lady Styx and Lady Lethe had visited the surface world, I might as well take Mente along for a change of pace.
"Mente. Would you like to visit Thebes with me after so long?"
"...!?"
"It's the walk we couldn't finish last time because of the Gigantes' attack."
Her eyes sparkled again as she lifted her head. The blue-green eyes that shone almost too brightly held no trace of gloom.
"A r-reward! Finally, I get to go alone with you like Lady Styx and Lady Lethe...!"
"...? How did you know about that?"
"Of course the rumors have spread everywhere! Lately in the Underworld, everyone is talking about who will become Lord Hades's official wife..."
I wish they would all stop paying so much attention to my love life.