Talia – Training To Be A Goddess PART 2
I could tell that Charlie and Chloe were not having a good time with Mr. Hades in the room. I think they were scared that he was going to be doing something to them. They had had the gone people in their lives for so long that they were not good with a lot of new situations. And they were so recently able to look like normal people.
I didn't really notice much of the difference between the two of them. They were pretty when they were bear people and they are pretty now. They were also my friends and I liked them very much. Daddy said that they had vowed to be my retainers or something like that. But I didn't know how that was possible. Retainers were things that went in your mouth to help your teeth. That was what the kids at school said. Izzy Drews said her older sister had bad teeth and needed a retainer.
I didn't know if Izzy was wrong or if Daddy was wrong, but I knew that Charlie and Chloe were always here with me and that they always did things for me. They would help me get ready, but my attendant was supposed to do that. They would help me with something that I didn't understand. And they always seemed to be protecting me. They were like my uncles with Mommy. They were always there for me. And I loved them for that.
“Charlie, Chloe, if you are scared of Mr. Hades, you can go back to your room. I do not want you to be afraid.
“No, Talia, we will not leave.” Charlie stood up tall and proud. I was actually surprised to see that he was about the same height as Mr. Hades. He was as tall as a god, that was cool.
“We have sworn to be there for you and to protect you, Talia, we are not leaving you.”
.....
“Well, if you think you will be OK, then you can stay. Mr. Hades is going to be teaching me so that I can take over the underwear world when I am older. I had not told you that yet. Mommy hasn't really told anyone about it except for Daddy. He was kind of scared to hear it too.” I think they were scared too. They looked really weird when they heard that I was going to be the new goddess to the underworld.
“Little Talia, why do you insist on calling it the underwear world?” Mr. Hades didn't seem like he was at all upset about me calling his home by that name. I mean, he was laughing about it as he asked me that question. I think he was just curious more than anything.
“Mr. Hades, I am only four. I am expected to do and say things like a child. Because, well, I am a child.” I tilted my head and gave him a very cute smile. I think this would be one of those times that my mommy and daddy told me that I was just trying to pretend to be innocent. I think they would be right too. I didn't want Mr. Hades to know that I could say the name properly. I liked using underwear world right now. It was funny and I liked having fun like that. I think that like Daddy and Uncle Shane, I liked jokes and funny things. Even if Daddy tried to pretend that he didn't joke as much as me and Uncle Shane. I knew the truth. He was always joking with us.
“I guess that is fair enough. You are only a child, so you should be allowed to do as you please for now.” I smiled when I saw Mr. Hades said that. He and I seemed to think a lot alike. “Alright now, Little Talia, it is time for us to begin your first lesson. Are you ready?”
“I am ready, but I think that I should tell my mommy first. I don't want her to get mad at me. Mommy can be pretty scary when things don't go the way she plans them too.” I shuddered at the thought of the things that my mommy had done in the past. I knew that she could be a pretty scary lady. Though she had never been scary to me before.
“Yes, Little Talia, we should tell your mommy. Why don't we send one of your friends here to tell her? I think that will be good. They can do their job by relaying the information.”
“OK.” Mr. Hades did have a point. Charlie and Chloe were here to help me. They were the ones that could tell my mommy.
“Talia, we can tell her without leaving. You can tell her too. I am sure that you can use that mind link that she had created and taught to people.”
“I..I have never tried. But if you can use it, can you tell my mommy that Mr. Hades is here to teach me.”
“Yes, Talia, we will tell her right now.” I saw then that the two of them started to talk to each other rather than telling my mommy. Then again, I didn't know what the mind link thing was so for all I know they could be talking to my mommy right now.
“OK, Mr. Hades, we can start now. What am I learning today? I love learning new things.” My smile was met with one from Mr. Hades as well. His smile was bigger than mine, but he looked like he was a friend to me and not a bad guy. I hoped that he and I could be friends later on. I mean, he was the leader of the underworld right now. Well, one of them. And when I take over, I might need his help. Being friends would make that a lot easier for me.
“Well, Little Talia, we will be learning about what the underworld is and why it exists.”
“Isn't it the place that the gone people go when they die. The bad ones at least. The good ones go to Heaven, right?” I tried to make sure that I had things right. I mean, I remembered everything, but I had never really discussed this with people before.
“Yes and no. The underworld is where all people go when they die. There are different levels of the underworld though. There are the in-between areas that lie between eternal happiness and the various punishments.” He was explaining it to me in a voice that clearly said he was talking to a kid. It was a voice I heard from people a lot. I mean, I am a kid so I know why they did it, but I didn't like that voice most of the time.
“Why are the people being punished?” I thought I knew this answer already, but I would ask everything anyway. It was better to ask and know then not ask and be wrong.
“Well, Little Talia, they are being punished because they did bad things. They might have taken something that wasn't theirs or they might have hurt someone really bad. Those people are not good people. And when they aren't good people, they need to be punished. But there are different levels of punishment.”
“So not everyone is punished. That's good. I don't want people to be punished when they shouldn't. Good people and the mostly good people need to be happy in the underwear world. The gone people died and that means that they need to be helped as much as we can.” I was doing my best to make sure that Mr. Hades understood my feelings.
“Well, the mostly-good and good people get rewarded. Those that are not all bad go to punishment but can be moved to the good places after they have served their time.” Mr. Hades' words did not make much sense to me.
“What does it mean to be not all bad? Would lying be enough to get me into the bad place? Or would Donnie at school be sent to the bad place because he pushed me down when he was really sad and crying? He is a good boy and didn't want to hurt me, he just wanted to be alone, and I was bothering him. Would he go to the bad place?” I was scared now. Would Donnie and I be in trouble when we became gone people?
“Hmm. That is hard to say, Little Talia. I guess it would depend on how badly someone was hurt by the actions and what you did later in life.” That scared me even more.
“I don't think that one bad thing should send someone to the bad place. That is not nice.”
“That can be something that we work on when you take over, Little Talia. You can change the rules when you are the only Goddess of the Underworld.”
Just as Mr. Hades said that someone came running into my room. It wasn't my mommy since she couldn't walk right now. Instead, it was Uncle Vincent and Uncle Dietrich. They both looked like they were scared and were looking right at me and Mr. Hades. Mr. Hades was still standing in front of me as I stood next to the place the door had been.
“Talia!” Uncle Vincent called out to me. “Are you OK?”
“Yes. Of course. Mr. Hades is just teaching me about the underworld.”
“Is there a problem?” Mr. Hades stood to look at them with a smile on face. Only it didn't look like a nice smile.
“Charlie and Chloe told us that there was an intruder in your room.” Uncle Dietrich glared at them. “The others are on their way, I will cancel the panic now.”
“He isn't an intruder. I let him in. He is one of my teachers since I am going to become the next Goddess for them.”
“Yes, Talia, we know. Your mommy told everyone last night. You have two new guards being trained for you and we now know to expect these lessons. Mr. Hades, Sir, would it be alright for us to ask that you or anyone else that comes to train Talia send word in advance. That way it does not cause a panic among the rest of the staff here.” Uncle Vincent was always on top of things. He was so cool.
“But of course. It was we who asked that Little Talia take over for us when she gets older. I think it would be only fair of us to accommodate her and those around her.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hades. If you don't mind, I will be sending Charlie and Chloe on their way so that Dietrich and I can sit in their place.” Uncle Vincent was walking over to where my friends were. I could tell that they were at all not happy, but they couldn't say no to Uncle Vincent. He was the most important soldier in the castle. “You two are dismissed for now. Please go for training.”
“But-.” Charlie tried to say something, but Uncle Dietrich stopped him.
“No buts. Do as you were told.” This was all very odd.
After they switched places, Uncle Vincent and Uncle Dietrich sat to watch the lesson. It was calm after that had happened and I was able to learn some more. Today, Mr. Hades had told me in a very kid friendly way how the underworld was created and why. It wasn't just for bad people, as he said. It was so that the souls of the gone people had a place to go. Without the underworld, they would be left all over the world. That was why there used to be ghosts long, long ago. Now, there were so few ghosts in the world that most of the stories were fake. And the gone people that bothered me and the others were mostly in the in-between places. Some were ghosts though. I guess that I will be one of the few people that can always know if there really are ghosts near me. Isn't that fun?
Mr. Hades came back from time to time after that. He wasn't the only one either. I also got lessons from the goddess Hel, the god Erlik and the god Lucifer. They were all very nice to me when they came to visit. Uncle Vincent, Uncle Dietrich, Uncle Shawn, Uncle Shane and Uncle David usually sat with me during my lessons. Sometimes Charlie and Chloe were able to sit with me. The more that they came to teach me the easier it was for them. I was happy that they were not scared anymore. I would like to take them with me when I went to the underworld later. I don't know when that would be, but I knew that I would be living there eventually. I just hoped that I could still see my mommy and daddy when I was there. I would be really sad if I couldn't see my family anymore at all. I don't think that I could live like that.
