Charon

Charon is a Deity (Psychopomp) — the ferryman who shepherds souls across the boundary river. In field notes he registers as a gaunt, hooded presence at the waterline; the air around him grows thin and keen. Smell: brackish river mud with a thread of cold iron and faint, old incense. Sound: the hollow scrape of a single oar, the thin chime of metal as if a coin were nudged, and a hush that swallows small animals' calls. Temperature: a sudden, bone-deep chill that beads on skin and silences breath. He holds station at the crossing, patient and precise, as though timing is the only thing he knows to keep.