"Where did you get the obolus from?" I asked, astonished. It couldn't have been placed as a funeral coin—after all, before ending up in the Underworld, this guy was fated to become a crab and later got crushed to death in a pitiful manner. Who would be mad enough to give a crab a proper burial with a coin for the afterlife?
So where did he get the obolus?
"I snatched it from those guys... It's a special talent of mine," he replied with a grin.
A little crab like him… fighting through those crazed spirits to steal an obolus? How did he manage to survive without getting torn to pieces?
"How in the world did you pull that off?"
"It's a long story... Let's just say, I'll tell you when we have time," he said, handing the obolus to me. "Right now, what we need to do is cross to the other side and find Sisyphus."
"But wait… we've only got one obolus. There are two of us."
"Don't worry about that. I've got a plan to get both of us across… using just this one obolus," he said with a mischievous smile. "We're going to cheat Charon's fare."
"Cheat Charon?" I exclaimed. "That's impossible! If we try that, that stingy old man will boot us straight into the lake!"
"It's possible. I have a plan," he replied confidently.
"What plan?"
"Can't tell you. If I do, you'll mess it up," he smirked, then added, "Here's what you need to do: hold onto the obolus and wait by the shore of the lake. When the boat arrives, just get on board."
"What about you? Aren't you coming with me?" I asked, worried. I couldn't leave him behind.
"Thanks for worrying," he said warmly. "But don't worry—I'll be on that boat with you for sure."
I was still confused about how he planned to sneak aboard without getting whacked by Charon's oar. That old ferryman was no joke.
We walked together to the edge of Lake Acheron. Before us stretched an endless expanse of dark water—so vast you couldn't even see the far shore. Even the best swimmer in all of Greece wouldn't make it across. The lake was pitch black, like ink, unfathomably deep.
It was said that the Acheron flowed into another body—the Cocytus, also known as the Lake of Lamentation. It was born from the endless grief of the dead who could not be reborn. Every tear shed by their suffering formed the waters of Cocytus.
It gave me the chills.
This was one of the many reasons I didn't want to stay in the Underworld for long. The whole place was too terrifying. Just think—this land was so cruel and hopeless that it could squeeze enough tears from souls to create one of the five great lakes of the Underworld.
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"We wait for Charon to come and take us across."
"You really think he'll show up? We're not even at the proper dock."
"As long as we have an obolus, that old man will smell the coin and come rowing this way," Crab said confidently.
We sat by the lakeside, waiting for Charon. Time passed slowly, and there was still no sign of him. I yawned and stretched with fatigue. "Yaaaawn… Are you sure he'll come get us?"
Crab was jittery, shifting on his feet and constantly peering out over the water. "He should've arrived by now."
Soon, two faint lights appeared on the lake, slowly drawing closer. The darkness of the Underworld made it hard to make out what it was, but I could hear the sound of water sloshing rhythmically.
As it approached and the lights grew clearer, they illuminated the shape of a small boat… and the grumpy old man manning it.
It was Charon—the stingiest ferryman of them all.