The Labors of Hercules: Cerberus
Long long ago, in the age before television, Hercules was given his final task to prove he was worthy to join the gods on Mount Olympus. Eurystheus knew this was his last attempt to foil Hercules in behalf of Hera and so gave Hercules the hardest task he could think of, to capture Cerberus alive without the use of armor or weapons. Cerberus was a great three-headed dog that Hades, the god of the dead, used to guard the underworld. It was Cerberus that prevented the dead from coming back to the world of the living, as well as preventing the living from entering the underworld before it was their time. He was the son of Typhon, who was so horrible even the gods feared him. Typhon himself was only defeated by Zeus with the aid of the other gods. While Cerberus was not as powerful as his father he was definitely more dangerous then any of the other monsters he had defeated already. Hercules felt he might be able to kill Cerberus with the aid of his armor and weapons, he wasn't certain if he could capture him with his bare hands. Hercules also knew that this wasn't the most dangerous part of the task. Even if he was successful, capturing Cerberus would earn him the wrath of Hades who was the second most powerful god after Zeus. Hades was careful about his duties as god of the dead and he would not hesitate to personally attack anyone that threatened the guardians of his domain. Many of the gods would not even attempt to capture Cerberus as while most of them might be able to defeat Cerberus only Zeus himself could confidentially win the fight against Hades that would surely happen afterwards. Hercules however was not a quitter, and was more then willing to risk his life to join the gods. He traveled first to Eleusis to speak with the priests and priestesses of Demeter to learn where the entrance to the underworld was. Demeter was goddess of the harvest which may seem like a strange place to go to learn about the underworld, but her daughter, Persephone, was Hades' wife. Because of this Demeter would often wait near the entrance to the underworld to wait for her daughter causing droughts and famines. Demeter however was very familiar with the entrance to the underworld and had once told her priests and priestesses the location of it's entrance. After learning the location of the entrance to the underworld Hercules set off. He traveled to the land of Tanaerum where he soon found the cave that went down to the underworld. The cave was easy to traverse and he encountered no obstacles until he reached the river Styx which was the border between the land of the living and the land of the dead. The Styx was a magical river that had special powers. Among them no one, not even the gods, could swim across it, and no normal boat would float on it. The only way across was a ferry manned by Charon, who would ferry the dead to the underworld for a fee. Hercules of course wasn't dead and he didn't particularly feel like paying the toll either. He just walked up onto the ferry and when Charon tried to stop him Hercules glared at him so hard that Charon decided to let him over. Charon was just a ferryman and knew he'd lose in a fight with Hercules and decided it would just be best if he let Cerberus and Hades who were the real guardians of the underworld deal with Hercules. After crossing the river Styx he continued down until he reached the gates where Cerberus stood guard. Cerberus was just as horrific as he had heard. Each of his three heads looked in a different direction looking for threats and unlike some other three-headed dogs this one couldn't be calmed by music. Hercules stayed hidden and spent some time watching Cerberus. He noticed that while Cerberus kept an eye for mortals trying to come in he mostly focused on keeping the dead from trying to leave. Hercules waited until Cerberus had his back turned and then started running. Hercules rushed right past Cerberus and through the gates into the underworld. Hercules ran so fast that Cerberus couldn't catch him and he quickly gave up and returned to his post at the gates. Hercules ignored Cerberus for the time being and continued through the land of the dead. He saw many of his friends there who had since passed away but he continued on until he found Hades himself. Hercules then simply asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus in order to complete his task. Hades was surprised by the request but was so impressed with Hercules' honesty and straightforwardness that he readily agreed and gave Hercules permission to take Cerberus away for the quest so long as he was returned afterwards. Hercules began to think this would be his easiest task yet until Hades told him that he would still need to capture Cerberus on his own. Although Hades had placed Cerberus to guard his gates, even he couldn't really command or control him, Cerberus was just that powerful. The good news though was that Hercules wouldn't have to fight Hades like Eurystheus had hoped. Hercules returned to the gates and faced Cerberus. Cerberus was waiting for him eager to devour this mortal that had just so recently evaded him. He was as big as a building and towered over Hercules. Hercules briefly wished for his lion skin armor, and weapons but knew that was against the rules. He cracked his knuckles and then dove towards Cerberus. It was a tremendous battle and the fight of Hercules' life. The battle was felt all the way in the land of the living as a massive earthquake caused the ground to shake like a bell. Buildings collapsed, ravines opened in the ground, volcanoes spewed lava and ash, and tsunamis flooded entire provinces. Whole cities were destroyed by the earthquake caused by the fight between Hercules and Cerberus. People didn't know what was happening and thought the world itself was about to end. In the end however, Hercules was victorious and Cerberus was overcome. Hercules slung Cerberus over his shoulder as best he could and started dragging him back to Eurystheus. Hades was true to his word and let Hercules go. Although weakened, Cerberus was still conscious and continued to struggle against Hercules the entire way but Hercules had the advantage and dragged him back to the river Styx. Charon was shocked to see Hercules dragging the still struggling Cerberus. He didn't know that Hercules had Hades' permission but seeing Hercules dragging Cerberus out of the underworld and Hades himself nowhere in sight he could only assume Hercules had defeated Hades too. He didn't think at all of his orders to let no cross the other way, he let Hercules on the ferry without question and rowed to the other side as fast as he could. Once across the river Styx he continued on out the cave and dragged Cerberus all the way back Eurystheus. Once Hercules returned Eurystheus wouldn't even see him and just hid in his barrel. He told Hercules that he had completed all the tasks and just asked that he take Cerberus back to the underworld. Hercules let Cerberus go warning him that if he didn't go straight back to Hades he would regret it. Cerberus ran away from Hercules with his tail between his legs and went right back to his post at the gates of the underworld. The gods and goddess' all agreed that Hercules had proved his worthiness to join them. From that time forth he was allowed to live on Olympus with the gods. Despite this Hercules didn't immediately go straight to Olympus. His friend Jason invited Hercules to join him on a quest to find the golden fleece. Hercules went on that and many more adventures and quests before he finally got around to joining the gods on Olympus.