Hades

                                                   
                                                      Hades

         It was night in Venice; the air was chilly, the streets of water dark, the fog wound its way into every crevasse of the city. A man clad in a battered brown coat walked along one of the many streets, reached an intersection and stopped. He waited. The water was dark and seemed to swallow the whole night sky in its vastness. The buildings, brightly colored by day, seemed dull and dark. The man looked up at a street sign to make sure he was at the right place. The streets were Styx and Acheron. A soft splashing noise could be heard from the fog and soon a long gondola appeared. The man pushing it along wore a black jacket and a hood that covered his face. When the gondola stopped he outstretched his hand in silence. The passenger gave him a large gold coin and climbed aboard. As the gondola glided on the water it started to rain. The water, previously a mirror reflecting the sky, was now covered in ripples from falling raindrops. It was getting colder and the passenger seemed to shrink as he curled up for warmth. The journey seemed to take forever and when an iron gate began to appear out of the fog the man was shivering. Arriving at his destination he climbed out of the gondola onto the street and was immediately startled by the savage barking of dogs. From behind the gate three dog-heads could be seen snarling at the newcomer. The man walked slowly up to this gate and pressed the doorbell; a mechanic buzzing tinged the silence and after a moments pause the gate opened. The man walked forward trying not to look at the dogs, that stopped barking and disappeared somewhere into the darkness. The man walked onward until he was nothing but a shadow in the distance. A sign on the gate, in large ornate black letters, read: "Underworld".