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Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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Kary had been vaguely aware that -something- had happened over the last few days but she hadn't personally witnessed whatever it may have been.
She did know, however, that whatever it was had gotten Alchemist to focus on research in between his other tasks. Whatever his current goal was, the man was constantly playing in the dirt with a handful of tree seeds.
Helping him clean up at the end of the day had been rather fun, however...
"If not for the atmosphere of fear, I'd say this place is rather similar to my home." Diana seemed to be enjoying herself, however. She'd apparently found several heroes of myth and legend, then taken to sparring with them.
"Isn't that a bad thing, though?" Captain Marvel asked, poking at the food on his plate. After the first few days the man had started to look rather disheveled, the near-perfection of his appearance fading bit by bit.
"It depends on why they're afraid." Kary answered for Diana, the titan's mouth currently occupied with a piece of sausage rolled in a pancake. "From what I've gathered, the lord of the manse is rather fond of yelling. Nobody has claimed that he strikes them, though."
There was a brief lull as Alchemist brought another tray out of the kitchen, loaded with more pancakes and roasted sausages. Not the healthiest start to the day, not really, but he seemed to be in high spirits.
Her man loaded a small plate to bursting and placed it in front of Jinx, the girl rather absorbed with a book, before sitting and finally filling a plate for himself.
"So, basically, their boss is just temperamental." Alchemist still had on the frilly pink apron he'd taken to wearing in the kitchen. Kary was fairly sure it had started as a joke but she was also fairly sure he didn't even notice at this point. "The man is good at his job but there's not really any separation between work and life for him which... I mean, I get it. Overseer of the dead is a big responsibility."
"It ish." Diana got out, thickly, before reaching for a glass of milk. She drained half of it in one go. "Not just overseer of the dead, Hades is also the warden of the remaining titans. The ones that lost the war against the current rulers of Olympus."
"And he's probably depressed." Alchemist observed, slowly cutting his food into smaller pieces. He looked up and glanced across the curious eyes that were staring at him, Kary's own doing their best to convey her confusion. "Uh... Like, Zagreus has never seen sunlight? I know gods can suffer from depression but I don't know if they can suffer from it because of things like vitamin deficiencies. D, uh, vitamin D is kind of important for keeping that under control."
"...Huh." Captain Marvel tapped his plate with his fork, a contemplative look on his face. "That's actually a really good question. Do you think Nyx might know?"
"I've no idea." Diana said as she rolled a pancake around a sausage and picked up the food with her hands. "We can certainly ask. I know she wishes to continue our lessons."
"Well then, it sounds like you two have a plan for the day." Kary set her own fork down and adjusted herself in her chair. "Alchemist? If you're free, I would like your assistance with something today."
"I should be." Alchemist told her as he began to actually eat. "I've been hunting down a lot of utility spells for something but it's not especially urgent."
"Oh?" Captain Marvel asked, leaning back in his seat. "What are you working on?"
"It's, uh, I'm trying to figure out how to grow a tree in the underworld." Her beloved admitted, pointing at Marvel with his loaded fork. "Forcing it to grow is easy enough but ensuring its long term survival is actually kind of hard. Water, nutrients and sunlight- That's why sunlight was on my mind- are all a bit of a balancing act. Especially since it all has to be artificial which adds an extra level of complexity."
"Won't the very nature of Tartarus prove hostile to the growth of plant life?" Diana asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table.
"...Probably." Alchemist sighed and bit into his food. He chewed slowly, obviously thinking. "Well, that's another variable I'll need to work out. That in mind, I might need to rework the master spell entirely... Find something local and adapt the spell to it..."
The man broke down mumbling to himself, tapping the end of the table with his free hand.
"Alchemist." Kary called, getting his attention after nearly a minute. "Don't forget to eat."
The man startled, jerking slightly in his seat before shaking his head and returning to his cooling food. "Right, sorry. Thank you."
"Well, I'm finished." Diana stood up, grabbing her plate full of silverware and her empty glass. "Marvel, are you ready?"
"One second!" The man exclaimed, shoveling the rest of his meal into his mouth. Chewing loudly, he continued to speak with his mouth full. "I'll be righ' behin' yhou!"
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Alchemist absently told the man, treating him rather like a child. "You might spit out half-eaten food and people think it's rude."
"Shorry!" Captain Marvel shouted, standing up to chase after Wonder Woman as she left.
Jinx huffed quietly and glared, putting her book down to start eating her own food.
"You'd think a full-grown adult would know better." The girl groused, poking at her sausages and pancakes. "Do we have any syrup?"
"Check the inventory." Alchemist told her, taking his time with his own meal. "And yeah, you would think a full-grown adult would know better, wouldn't you?"
"...That's supposed to mean something." Kary noticed, watching as Jinx began to pour thin streaks of brown liquid over her food. "Are you going to explain it?"
"Not my secret to say." Alchemist told them, keeping whatever it was to himself. "It's important, so I don't want to break trust."
"...Fine then." Kary knew, if it were important enough, he would tell them regardless. "I believe I'll take care of the dishes before we depart."
"Thanks, Kary." Alchemist, at least, appreciated her help about the home. "What did you want to do, anyway?"
"I feel... Something calling me. Something outside the House of Hades." Kary put a hand upon her chest, feeling the draw even here. "I would seek it out."
"Yeah..." Jinx drawled, rolling her pancakes into a swirl before lifting the whole thing with her fork. "That's not ominous at all. I'm coming with."
"Splendid!" Kary beamed, more than pleased to have the extra hands when they entered what Alchemist explained to be hostile territory. "We'll leave after our chores are done!"
-----
Zagreus had needed a few days to get himself back together but he felt more than confident that his next escape attempt would meet with more success!
Taking a cue from the shadowy figure that had quite literally crushed him, he'd elected to take the Infernal Armament: Aegis into battle this time. With it, he felt much better able to deflect and block oncoming blows.
Skelly, his... Trainer had been less than helpful, as usual. The bloodless skeleton didn't so much 'train' Zagreus as stand in place and encourage the god to wail on him relentlessly. It offered great familiarity with a weapon, yes, but it did nothing for teaching Zagreus how to properly use the tools he had available.
Unless he was using those tools to pleasure a masochist...
Zagreus chose to intentionally end that line of thinking as he progressed further from the heart of Tartarus.
Dancing between blows, dashing about the maze that trapped the damned in his new boots, swinging about his Aegis and tossing it like a chakram- Zagreus was not a god of war, no, but he was still immensely thrilled by the feeling, the energy of battle.
The feeling of his blood pounding in his ears, the lightness in his feet and chest, his senses felt sharper in the heat of a pitched struggle.
Nearing the borders of Tartarus, Zagreus felt it again. The very earth beneath his feet trembled and the sounds of shattering stone were plain as could be. Megaera was doing battle again.
He wondered if she was doing better, this time.
The answer was a rather soft 'No'.
"Still not willing to ask for help?!" Zagreus shouted as the woman danced back and away from the wicked thrusts of Flamel's barbed spear. The ghostly fog of shadows did not hesitate or slow down in its assault of the woman as Zagreus made himself known, pursuing Megaera with a single-minded determination.
"I would appreciate it!" Megaera shouted down to him, hovering in the air as she lashed down at the specter with her whip.
"Since you asked so nicely." Zagreus tried to affect an easy grin as he tossed Aegis at Flamel, the shield impacting against his torso.
To no effect.
Zagreus caught the Shield of Chaos on the rebound and began to back away, his eyes watching carefully as Flamel wrapped Megaera's lash about his hand and began to pull the Fury down.
His once-lover struggled in the air, pulling futilely as she was dragged lower and lower.
"Break his root!" Megaera cried, her one wing beating furiously to keep her aloft as the specter twisted the lash about his fist again. "We must breach his guard!"
With the shield, Zagreus found his options lacking. A fantastic device, yes, but it seemed unable the breach the threshold of whatever armor was hidden under the smoke that obscured Flamel's form.
His options limited, Zagreus chose the one he felt most likely to move the implacable spirit and charged, his shield raised before him. Together, Zagreus and Aegis slammed into the side of Flamel, moving him...
Not at all.
Indeed, the ache that jolted through the god felt as though he'd just tried to slam into the good friend of Sisyphus, Bouldy.
Zagreus didn't have a chance to back off and rethink his options. Flamel, finally taking notice of him, ripped his hand down and dragged Megaera screaming to the ground. She found the time to meet Zagreus on her way, however.
The specter seemed content to wait for them to situate themselves. Zagreus grunted as he rolled over and stood up. Megaera, once she'd disentangled herself, literally growled.
There was a tense moment as the two stood aside each other, outside the reach of that wicked, barbed spear Flamel carried. The man pointed it forward, aimed directly at Zagreus's heart and finally spoke.
"Raise your shield and cry for help." The cold, empty voice demanded. "But no one will save you."
"Zagreus..." Megaera did not turn to face him this time, having well learned her lesson when Flamel's spear was introduced to her organs.
"If you insist." Zagreus didn't know what the man's goal was but if he thought to stand against the power of the gods?
"Zeus!" So be it!
Divine lightning, delivered by the King of Olympus himself, tore through the divide between worlds and slammed into the smoking monster. The world turned blue and thunder roared as bolt after bolt slammed into Flamel.
It took a long moment for the black and green lines to fade from Zagreus's eyes but he was sure something was wrong when the world returned to visibility.
Flamel stood in place. Unmoved. Unharmed.
The favor Zeus had gifted him wasted, failing to do as it was intended.
"No..." The monster spoke, his feet shifting into a ready stance with his spear. "No one will save you."
Zagreus brought his shield up as Megaera leapt to the side when Flamel lunged, his weapon scraping audibly against the front of Zagreus's Aegis. The man pulled back and Zagreus managed to look over his shield to see where Flamel would next strike, barely able to impose the shield in the way.
Each thrust shoved him back a step, each slam leaving the god on the verge of losing his footing.
Zagreus... Couldn't win like this. He needed to figure something out, needed to find a way out of being trapped in the defensive!
The god ducked in a panic as the spear skidded over the rounded surface of Aegis and one of the barbs came dangerously close to ripping off his ear. Sure, the thing would be back when he pulled himself free of the Styx... But until then? Until then it would hurt immensely!
Zagreus poked his head up after another thrust and watched Megaera try to come up behind their assailant. She pulled a dagger free of her belt and approached from above and behind.
Flamel, rather than turning to face her, pulled his spear back rapidly and slammed the butt of it into Megaera's gut, knocking her back out of the air.
"...You seek freedom?" Flamel asked, his spear continuing to dig and scrape at Aegis. Zagreus raised it one more time and saw something impossible. He saw cracks forming in the materials that made up his shield. One final thrust and a third of the shield literally broke off, Zagreus sprawling onto his back when the tip of the wicked weapon was mere centimeters away from his eye.
The pose was held for a long moment, the only sounds to be heard coming from Megaera as she expelled her last meal.
Finally, finally after far too long, Flamel brought his spear back and returned to a resting position.
"Seek out the daughter of Gaia, Zagreus." Flamel turned around and began to walk to the door leading out of Tartarus. "Your instincts, while good, can only take you so far."
"Well..." Zagreus began to collect the broken fragment of Aegis. He'd reforged the Stygian Blade, once... How hard could it be to rebuild his shield? "That was rather unpleasant."
"Unpleasant?" Megaera hacked, wiping at her mouth with the back of one hand. "That was embarrassing! I am to punish the wicked and guard the gates of Tartarus!"
"Yes, well, he does seem to be a bit beyond what we can handle, doesn't he?" Zagreus tried to look at the positive side of things.
For one? He wasn't dead!
Again.
"I'll have to get my sisters." Megaera complained, her hostile eyes locked on Zagreus's own. "You were completely useless."
"Now, now." Zagreus mocked. "We were both useless. No point in blaming me alone."
Whilst he was without a weapon, Megaera was rather preoccupied. And they had just done battle together...
Zagreus began to surreptitiously walk towards the same door that Flamel had exited through, doing his best to not draw the Fury's eye as he snuck towards the exit. The woman was looking for her whip, dropped sometime during the fight when she'd been plucked from the air.
Upon reaching the exit, Zagreus turned around with a wide grin on his lips. He'd never yet made it to Asphodel!
Searing pain tore through his chest and Zagreus looked down, the dagger that Megaera had attempted to pull on Flamel had been pushed through his back.
"Meg...?" Zagreus whimpered, one hand trying weakly to grab at the blade.
"I've let one through already." She growled into his ear, her hold on him almost intimate. "You'll not stain my honor any further!"
Zagreus felt his legs give out from underneath of him as his vision began to turn black. He could already feel the waters of the Styx calling for him.
Before everything was swept away, one part of him realized, truly, that Megaera would choose duty over camaraderie.
-----
Jinx had a lot on her mind after watching Alchemist manhandle Zagreus and Megaera whilst she and Kary watched on, invisible.
The first? He didn't hold back. At least, not much. That beating had been violent, almost to the point of being cruel. The only thing keeping her opinion from shifting was the fact that he actually had met them with less force than they used on him.
The second? Kary could have maybe tried to be a little more discreet with what she'd been doing. Jinx did not need to hear the invisible woman squealing in delight when Alchemist broke the Zagreus guy's shield.
"This is kind of... Underwhelming." She thought aloud, walking on Alchemist's left side through whatever part of the underworld they'd made it to.
There were monsters down there, too. Similar but different to the stratum before. Not that it mattered any. Alchemist had surrounded them in a ring of floating black blades, just under fifty of them whirling around them like a slow buzz saw. Sometimes one would dart off, burying itself into an assaulting specter or spirit before it dissipated and the blade rejoined the group.
"The maze isn't made for creatures like ourselves." Kary answered her. "Even further below, the titans are chained down and locked away. More than mortal but less than god, we would likely find a place among them."
"Yeah... That's a hard pass." Jinx didn't want anything to do with the gods, not really. She didn't want to step out of the demi-plane and into the domain of Hades, she hadn't wanted to meet with Nyx. They all just seemed so overbearing! "Hey, what's that?"
The group paused, Alchemist's concentration broken. As the blades in the air faded away, a portal was revealed upon the ground in this strange realm.
"What we're looking for." Alchemist nodded as the last blade dissolved into nothing. "Good eye, Jinx."
"Thank you, thank you. I've got two of them." Jinx joked, getting a muffled snort from Alchemist and a quiet giggle from Kary. "So, what's the deal with the portal?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure I know who's on the other side." Alchemist told her, pausing for a moment to transition out of the Incorruptus form he used in place of his armor anymore. Then he had to cancel the miniaturization spell that let the giant magi-machine seem human, it had transferred to him after sending the Incorruptus to his Armory. "We'll just have to unseal it and have a look inside."
"Is it... Who I think it is?" Kary asked, sounding nervous as Alchemist walked around the portal. He was eying it critically, his yellow gaze tracing the symbols around the outer edge of it.
"Yes... And no." The wizard pursed his lips in thought, Jinx could see the bulge travel across his upper lip as he ran his tongue across his teeth. "The Underworld is a weak spot in the local dimensional walls. It's a place where entities that are too... Big, I would say, can bridge the divide and try to connect with things that are smaller."
"So..." Jinx turned, Kary's tone drawing a worried eye. The woman sounded downright nervous! "IT is here."
Kar'Yashlan was actually fidgeting, her left hand coming up to straighten out a lock of her hair. Over and over again.
"It's not the one you're thinking of, if that helps?" Alchemist offered, the two of them failing to name whatever was on the other side.
Jinx was getting tired of the byplay. Whatever it was, it bothered Kary but Alchemist didn't seem to think it was a major issue.
"It... Really doesn't." Kary admitted. Deflating slightly as she sighed. "But I'd like to stop worrying about it. Let's get moving."
"Alright." Alchemist quietly agreed. "Now, normally this seal would require godblood to unseal. Preferably related to whoever placed it to begin with. Sadly, I don't have any on hand and I'd rather not go through the effort to get it."
"So how do we get in?" Jinx asked, looked down at the intricate sigil written in ancient Greek.
Or would it be living Greek?
No, Jinx decided, it was probably really old so it still counted as ancient Greek.
"Well, one lesson I learned from a martial artist who could never find his way was this." Alchemist snapped his fingers and a Gate opened on the floor, directly adjacent to the portal. "A wall is just a door that hasn't been made yet."
So saying, he stepped forward and tilted down into the Gate.
"...I wish he would wait for one of us to go with him." Jinx groaned before she followed him.
She didn't hear whatever Kary had to say, her eyes struggling to adjust to the new ambience.
They were in a ruined temple, floating in the night sky. The masonry was old, so ancient it made the crumbling ruins in the Underworld look like they were fresh!
"Woah..." Jinx slowly turned around, stepping to the side as Kary joined them.
There were a few pots near where they'd entered, cracked and worn with age.
"...I'd hoped to never see this place again." Kary whimpered. She stood stock still, frozen in place. Jinx had never seen the woman scared before. Never seen her struggle with a situation that actually frightened her.
"Kary?" Jinx asked, watching uncertainly as Alchemist walked over to the Fallen and gently grabbed hold of her hand, balled into a fist, and pried it open. As he held on to her hand while she stared unseeing into the strange abyss around them.
"...It's the Shrine of Chaos." Alchemist explained, quiet as a christian in a church. "The heart of it. The closest Chaos can get to manifesting into our tiny, fragile worlds."
"How strange." A... Some... Many? Voices whispered/screamed/said all at once. From everywhere. The whisper was so loud, it felt like Jinx's ears were bleeding. "You know of this place. Yet. I do not know of you."
Jinx took a step back from one of the pots as red eyes peered out of the cracks on the side. She tried to run for the Gate but froze solid when she saw an eye, filled with smaller eyes, using it as-as-as-
"This is wrong." The entire place shook, the ground tearing apart as something formed beyond the boundaries of the tiny little shrine. A... Thing, a floating mass of flesh warped and twisted into existence, dozens of heads, male and female alike began to take shape. They were covered with those staring eyes for a moment before some of them split open, square teeth chattering as the -thing- spoke. "I do know Kar'Yashlan. A fragment of my broken will created her. This shape, however, is incorrect."
"Greetings, Lord Chaos-" Alchemist started to speak before the central figure, a torso that had a fetus barely connected by a chord of that same undifferentiated flesh. It, too, was staring at them impassively.
"Anomaly. You have not been addressed." The fetus portion spoke as the main torso continued to take shape, slowly growing a single glorious head with three eyes. Light glowed from behind it. "It is rude to interrupt."
"...My apologies." Alchemist... Backed down. Not grudgingly. Not sarcastically. The thing cowed him, easily.
"...What?" Kary whispered, her hands were trembling. The one locked around Alchemist's hand looked to be squeezing so tight, Jinx could almost hear the dragon bones creaking under the stress. "What do you- Why have you been calling for me?"
"I have not." The third eye in the middle of the forehead of the lead torso opened, revealing a sigil rather than an eyeball underneath. "Your presence in unexpected. Still. We are pleased to see that you have grown strong, Kar'Yashlan."
"...Then who are you calling for?" The fallen angel asked, her voice trembling with every word.
"Unimportant. In time, my call shall be answered by whom it was intended for." Wings spread forth from the sides of the largest head, followed immediately by horns. The entity, the Chaos, just trying to look at it was painful but Jinx couldn't pull her eyes away. "I had not thought to see a daughter forged by the Chaos of Time. The others, your siblings, remain trapped within my Garland's madness."
Kary breathed, slowly. Her grip on Alchemist's hand relaxed bit by bit.
"How long has it been?" She asked, swallowing heavily.
"Fifteen millennial cycles of the local timeloop have been repeated in your absence." Chaos told her, its voices lacking inflection. "The echo of Tiamat has shown some signs of awakening but has yet to develop independence."
Jinx couldn't look away as arm bones grew from the side of the monstrous thing, followed rapidly by muscles, veins and finally flesh. It twisted, the bones breaking with loud, audible clicks until it had taken on the vague shape of a hand holding something tiny in between its thumb and pointer finger.
A tiny marble, maybe the size of a cat's eye. Covered mostly in blue with little flecks of green and brown with white swirls rapidly flowing over... It...
That was the Earth, a small part of Jinx's barely functioning mind told her.
"She would, wouldn't she?" Kary sighed quietly, her voice finally even. "You didn't call for me. You don't even have a use for me. This... Has been a total waste of time."
"You sought answers, Kar'Yashlan. You found them. Is such truly a waste?" The primordial entity asked, something approaching curiosity in its impossibly deep eyes.
"...No. I..." Kary sighed and sent a plaintive look towards Alchemist. He nodded to her, he even tried to smile.
The shriek of grinding stone as Chaos turned to look at him drove Jinx to her knees and almost knocked Alchemist prone as well.
"Anomaly. @**&@%$#%. You are the one my Primal Archfiend is bedding, are you not?" There was weight in the accusation. Jinx could feel the heat of stars drawing close as -everything- seemed to focus on Alchemist.
"Ye-yhes." The man grunted. Jinx struggled to turn her head and saw that, like her, he'd been driven to his knees.
"Be good to her." Was the simple command as the oppressive weight was lifted from them both. "Her past is lacking in kindness."
And then... It was gone. The eyes were gone. The twisting mass of flesh and teeth had disappeared. Jinx could stand again without feeling the weight of the universe gazing down at them.
"Can we never do this again?" Jinx asked, practically dropping against one of the ancient pillars of the shrine.
"It could have been worse." Kary sighed, pulling Alchemist to his feet. The man had borne the brunt of the primordial entity's focus and it showed, he was wobbling unsteadily on his feet.
"How?" Jinx asked, stuck somewhere between biting sarcasm and genuine curiosity.
"The last person to hold the attention of Chaos like this, Garland, is forever trapped in a time loop that begins and ends with his death." Kary explained, wrapping her arms around Alchemist to hold him steady.
"...Oh. Yeah." Jinx put a hand against her forehead, failing to stave off the growing migraine. "That's definitely worse."
-----
Diana followed along behind Nyx as the primordial goddess led her and Captain Marvel through a much-less used section of the palace. Judging by the cobwebs lingering in the corners, sheets placed over furniture, this was a section even the gorgon, Medusa, was not allowed to enter.
"-Some domains do not lend themselves well to use, unfortunately." Nyx herself seemed melancholic as she led the duo through the area. Especially when they passed by a garden overrun with weeds and gnarled, unkept trees. "Or, as may sometimes be the case, the god simply does not care to nurture their domain. Dionysus may come to mind."
"The god of drink?" Diana found herself asking, her eyes slowly taking in the sight of the abandoned tree. Around the trunk were dozens of rotten fruits, filling the air with the stink of overripe pomegranates.
"You're well educated on the residents of Olympus." Nyx complimented quietly. The elder god sighed quietly and began the trek back in the direction of the inhabited parts of the castle. "Yes, Dionysus. The god of drink. There are many directions he could have aimed his domain towards, paths he could have nurtured among the mortals that would have been reflected upon himself. Tell me, Marvel, what do you know on the making of alcohol?"
"Oh! Um..." Next to her, Captain Marvel stuttered and struggled for a moment. He'd been caught off guard by being directly addressed. "Well, I saw Alchemist making some not too long ago? He, uh, he boiled some water and sugar together before adding yeast to it all. It makes a very rough alcohol that he says is unfit for drinking."
"...I suppose it would." Diana couldn't make out the tone of voice Nyx used. It sounded almost affronted but also curious, as though he'd done something terribly wrong and the goddess couldn't understand why. "Dionysus is not just the god of drink but also the god of revelry. He encourages mortals to imbibe to excess, encouraging such acts as a means of imbuing them with greater creativity. Unfortunately, focusing so heavily on this aspect of his domain has been reflected upon him as well."
"He... Did not have a particularly good reputation back home." Diana admitted, thinking on the numerous banned festivals and rituals she'd read about that venerated him. The notes she'd found had stated rather clearly that inviting him down to Themyscira had resulted in ruined crops and years of hardship as people sobered up and discovered they'd attempted to turn many of their foodcrops into alcohol.
"And that is by choice. Dionysus was not always a god of excesses, no, he started out as a god of veneration. His domain was religious revelry and, through the unwise mixing of his domains, it slowly became religious exultation and fervor instead." Nyx sighed quietly as they re-entered the more-used portions of the palace, the severed head of Medusa was nearby and quietly singing to herself as she cleaned a pillar. "The domains we represent are controlled by us, and through them are we controlled. We must act with care and remember that, should we shift the focus of our selves, it will shift the focus of our self. Now, something else to keep in mind is-"
"Nyx!" A voice called out from the distance. The young god that Diana had seen a few days prior, she thought. "Nyx? Are you there?"
The floating head of the gorgon swiftly turned towards the source, a dusting of pink across the scales of her cheeks as Zagreus jogged over to meet with the Goddess of the Night.
All the while he was leaving behind footsteps red with the crimson water of the Styx.
"Are you in such a hurry, Zagreus, that you could not be bothered to dry yourself?" Nyx asked, audibly frustrated as the great goddess brought a hand up to massage her forehead. "Dusa is useless enough without needing to clean up after you."
"...Sorry." Zagreus grinned, abashed, as he rubbed the back of his head. "I needed to ask you a few things and I've got a rather demanding task ahead of me. I'll be sure to clean up after myself when we're done."
"...Very well. What did you need, Zagreus?" Nyx sighed in a way that Diana thought reflected some odd measure of fondness for the man. He wasn't her child, Mother Night hadn't had any children in a very, very long time.
Diana wondered if it would be rude to ask what their relationship was.
"I ran into Flamel. Again. He handled Megaera and myself with ease. Again." Zagreus explained, one hand reaching behind himself to extract his shield. "And he managed to break my shield before departing. Do you think I'll be able to put it back together like I did the Stygian Blade?"
"...What?" Nyx asked, her voice quiet as she reached down and plucked the broken shield from Zagreus's arms. "This is... Impossible... Zagreus, this shield stood strong in Zeus's arms against all that the Titans brought against him. Your father was unable to so much as mar its surface! This... How?"
"Well, I can't say how exactly." Zagreus admitted, reaching up to take the broken Aegis from Nyx. "The spear Flamel uses is truly wicked, however. I can feel some form of curse about its barbed blade. It certainly doesn't help that every blow felt as though I was being struck by a titan."
"Cursed or not, Aegis is an extension of my parent god, Chaos." The woman shuddered, her eyes distant. "Harming it, damaging it should not be feasible! Not... Not unless..."
Nyx shook her head, clearly distracted.
"If that is all, Zagreus, I fear I must depart. I need to be alone for a time..." Nyx said, her eyes locked on some distant place.
"I have one other thing to ask, if I may?" Zagreus called, dripping crimson on the flagstones beneath. Nyx paused, her steps shuddering as she turned a very worried pair of eyes on the young god. "Flamel told me to seek out the daughter of Gaia. It seems he thinks I ought supplement my training from Achilles."
"I suppose he told you this before you succumbed to his cursed spear?" Nyx paused, turning to look at him with a curious, searching gaze. The way her forehead crinkled in confusion likely meant she did not find what she was looking for.
"Oh, no. Once he broke Aegis and left Meg heaving out her last meal he was quite content to move on." Zagreus grinned as he brought a hand up to his chest. "Meg was the one to do me in, I'm afraid. I think she was rather put out when Flamel simply bypassed her entirely."
"That would do it, yes. Megaera is quite the prideful one." Nyx shook her head and resumed her departure. "The one you seek is behind you. Diana, daughter of Gaia. Warrior princess of her people."
Diana had remained silent during the exchange, watching in rapt curiosity as Nyx interacted with Zagreus.
"Do you think she's his mom?" Captain Marvel asked her as Zagreus turned to face them, his mismatched eyes meeting her own.
"No, she's not." Diana answered before stepping forward to meet with Zagreus properly. "Zagreus of Hades, I am Diana of Themyscira. It is an honor to meet you."
"Likewise!" The man adopted an easy smile, holding out his right hand. She clasped hers about his wrist and squeezed, Zagreus doing the same to her. "I was told that my skills were rather lacking with my weapons. An insult most grave, if not to me then to my teacher."
"Achilles, you mentioned?" Diana was sure that was the name she'd heard. "A demi-god, nigh invulnerable and blessed with great strength?"
"Right in one." Zagreus told her, his voice upbeat and full of confidence. "I'd never had reason to complain about his instruction before but someone seems to think I'm coming up short."
"We can work on that." Captain Marvel needed training, too. Diana pursed her lips in thought, considering the amount of work that would need to be done. She was going to have to pull in Kary if she wanted to keep Alchemist's progress up, too. "I have to remind myself of my training in the blade, constantly. Like your mentor, I am incredibly durable and strong. It often allows me to forego technique in lieu of power, a terrible habit when faced by an equal."
"...I've never really thought of it like that." Zagreus admitted, momentarily uncertain. Diana supposed it was a good thing that he did not live among the gods of Olympus. He wore his heart on his sleeve. "Shall we meet in the morning? I've got quite a mess to attend to, as you can see."
He waved down towards his feet. To the bloody waters of the Styx that still dripped from his crimson clothes.
"I'll be ready for you." Diana told him, nodding seriously before turning to Captain Marvel. "Bring Demonbrandt, Marvel. You'll need to learn how to use your new weapon."
"...In the morning?" Her fellow hero asked, a hint of a whine in his voice. "...Fine."
"Don't feel too bad." She told him, watching Zagreus jog away with a jaunty wave over his shoulder. "I plan to drag Alchemist along, too."
-----
Alchemist collapsed on the couch within seconds of returning home.
Jinx, giving up any pretense of a human illusion, fell on top of him.
The man had an arm over his eyes, blocking out the stabbing lights that attempted to pierce through them and directly harm his brain.
"Why does it feel like my brain got blown up like a water balloon and then stayed all stretchy after it went back to normal?" Jinx asked, her voice muffled as she had her head buried between Alchemist's arm and the side of the couch.
"Ugh." Alchemist groaned, trying to think. An unfortunate choice given how painful that was for him at the moment. "We just... Had our minds expanded. Without drugs."
"It wasn't that bad." Kary, watching them, sounded exasperated. "Neither of you are trying to summon C'thulhu or Nyarlathotep."
"Question?" Alchemist asked, dropping one arm off the side of the couch to bop Ash's head. "Was Chaos just using an avatar to talk at us or was it actually a fraction of its real self and just so far away that it kind of looked normal sized?"
Alchemist could accept either option. It wouldn't really change much but he was genuinely curious.
"Both." Kary told him, dropping into a nearby chair with a huff. "The both of you are acting like you've never seen the true form of a god before."
The true form of Chaos had been holding the Earth in between two of its fingers!
"...Thinky words hurt." Jinx whined, pushing her head harder into the fabric of the couch.
Alchemist didn't want to sound like he was complaining, even though he fully agreed with her.
"Why did Chaos look like... That?" The havoc dragon asked, her voice plaintive.
"Chaos is everything. Everything that lives and doesn't live, it is." Kary began to narrate for them. "Trying to imitate something as limited as us is... Difficult. Instead of picking any one form, it probably just threw a bunch of forms together that it thought fit the picture decently enough."
"...There you go, Jinx." Alchemist tried to joke as he reached up and patted the dragon on... He wasn't actually sure. One of the forelimbs? It might have been her tail. Or neck. "That's why our brains are all stretchy. We just saw everything. And maybe everywhen."
"...Don't tell me you think you can time travel now?" The dragon groaned, her tail lashing about and slapping into his side.
"Of course I can time travel. I'm doing it right now. One, two, three..." Nobody laughed. "We probably could though, for real."
"How do you mean, beloved?" Kary asked, genuinely curious. "While I'm sure magic may be capable of such a feat, I've never heard of a spell that can do so."
"Time dragons can do it. Or maybe they're called chrono dragons... Not important, sorry." Alchemist started to shake his head but stopped abruptly. The motion disagreed with him. Badly. "Gate. The Gate spell, I mean. In Faerun, most of the realities are too close together, basically brushing against each other, it's why planar travel is so easy. Out here, where there's some real distance? It would take some work but I think we could move across the temporal axis. Though, I'm not sure how 'far' we could travel at a time. And it's all a bad idea, anyway."
"...Butterflies?" Jinx asked, confusing him for a moment.
"Yep." But only for a moment.
All in all, Alchemist thought the day had some pretty mixed results. He'd fought Zagreus again, the man hadn't yet seen through his Penumbral Disguise and hopefully the god would listen to his advice and ask Diana for training. Zagreus was good at using a few flashy moves, sure, but the man had virtually no defense. Alchemist couldn't think of a good reason as to why he didn't have both his sword and shield at the same time. Sword and board was one of the most basic but effective combat methods out there!
They'd moved on afterwards and found what he'd been expecting. Except Chaos hadn't been expecting them. He wasn't sure if 'Ironic' properly fit the situation but it was the word he intended to use.
"Hey, Kary?" Alchemist called, his eyes still covered. He could sense that she was still sitting next to them.
"Yes, love?" And she sounded worried.
"...How do you feel about things?" He'd like to not talk, to just spend a bit of time simply existing in quiet agony... But his comfort could wait. "Like, how our meeting with your... Creator? Is creator the right word? How do you feel about that?"
"...It will suffice, I suppose. Calling them my 'Architect' seems a bit too pretentious." The fallen snorted ungraciously. "The meeting itself, though... I found it incredibly unsatisfying but at the same time freeing. I am free of any purpose imposed upon me by that particular power, they made no demands upon my actions or time."
"Ah." Alchemist didn't currently have much he could say about that. He understood, she'd been expecting to be given some measure of direction by something she used to obey. He'd bet that she'd made up some plans or ideas on what Chaos could have said, figured out what kind of responses she would have had.
Except those plans never came to fruition.
Because Chaos did not behave as expected.
Shocking.
Alchemist groaned again, eliciting a similar response from Jinx. He knew, he understood on a deep, fundamental level that reality existed because Chaos existed, not the other way around. The entity was the progenitor of the rules and laws that defined reality, the source of all such things... At least, in realities which proscribed to that story.
Hades was obviously one of them. D.C. was another which... Selectively did so as well.
Final Fantasy sort of did so as well.
He'd... He...
He only knew of two points in Kary's existence from that game. He didn't know anything else about her history aside from what she'd told him. That she'd awoken from the autonomous thing she'd once been, that she'd tired of fighting losing battles to heroes. How she'd escaped the time loop by diving into the unbound chaos caused by the death of Chaos, or at least the chunk that was puppeting Garland. Then she'd spent some time in Sigil after drifting through the eddies of the multiverse for countless unknown eons before being wooed by some spoony bard.
Alchemist pulled his hand away from Ash's head, she'd laid down next to the couch and he had to stretch to pet her anyway. Instead he started to run that hand across the spines going down Jinx's back.
He needed to get around to modifying his equipment. He'd been sitting on the spoils from Demon's Souls for a while and had totally failed to do anything with them. The DownFall had grown tremendously, its power and native effects significantly modified by perfecting it but it still had room for improvement. Alchemist had yet to sit down and sort out the attachments that could be put to it such as the Gravity Floater which would reduce the felt weight of the gun or the Mana Heart that restored MP and boosted the power of spells.
He had so many things he needed to do before they went back home, but...
"Hey, Kary?" He couldn't, wouldn't let certain other things fall to the wayside.
"Did you need something, Alchemist?" She was worried for him. She was worried that her progenitor's true and incredible form had damaged him in some way.
"What... What kind of music do you like?" He'd been so scared for so long... He'd been going through the motions of a relationship instead of properly paying attention.
"I don't know. I never really paid attention before." And that hurt a part of him, deep inside. Paintings and statues, even stupid little pillows were all ways to decorate space.
Music and experiences, however, were the means of applying art to time. Something she'd had so much of and so little to enjoy inside of it.
"When I wake up, do you want to see about finding out if you like anything?" His own tastes were eclectic, he loved bits and pieces from countless musicians but rarely cared to listen to more than one or two songs per album.
"...I think I'd like that, Alchemist."
