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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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~~FROM: Ultra-powerful best goddess Terra-Tan!~~
~~Okay. Good news and bad news time!
Congratulations! You broke it. Like, completely. The balance is completely ruined, you've proven that vocations are almost totally worthless if the job skills can be picked up elsewhere and I clearly need to make much better distinctions in how skills and spells interact.
You hunted down items and equipment and freaking skills that modify the strength of used items. Those were meant to be used for potions and such in the worlds they came from, places that didn't have attribute empowering medicine.
Also gonna have to do something about that. Don't think I don't know about the boosters you've collected. Sources and power-ups and all those nuts you snagged in the Item World.
You weren't supposed to gain access to that. Like, nobody was! It's the infinite grind to infinite power! Do you have any idea how boring that is?!
Don't take this the wrong way, though. Okay buddy? I'm actually super stoked that you're finding all this stuff. It's kinda the point of an Alpha Tester, you know? Finding the things that are broken so we can fix them going forward.
Like the Gate spell? Going forward, it'll be removed wholesale from the various iterations of my shop. Watching you use it to unlock the Power of Destruction in flying sword form by intentionally messing up made some of the other staff members pretty nervous.
We'll also be updating the code base and adding exclusions so that permanent attribute enhancement medicines and foods cannot have thier potency multiplied by equipment or skill effects. Some recipes are also being removed due to being too readily abused.
A one time bonus that's easy to get the materials for? Literally no problems. You bake that apple pie, bro!
Boiling down a stack of potions for +50 permanent HP and being able to do that until you reach some arbitrary cap? Look, we'll just get a bunch of munchkins that hang out in the zombie pop until they think they have too much HP to die. That junk's boring.
Also. The way you're abusing the heck out of Synthesis:Fusion? Well, I've been running some simulations and it's looking like we're going to have to add an exclusion to crafting skills so that they can't exceed 100 by the way of Limit Break or similar skills. Around level 170 in smithing it's possible for folks to start making the Infinity Sword+1 and that's heckin bad.
Mostly 'cuz they die when they try to use it to do something stupid.
Creating a complex item and then using that in conjunction with other, similarly complex items to make a painfully complex multi-tool? Go for it! That kind of exploiting is fine, little things like that leave folks feeling clever when they play and that sense of self-satisfaction is a great motivator.
Still fighting with the Gacha system. One of the variables is flipping the whole script over and none of us have been able to figure out which one it is yet.
When we reach Beta, we'll be expanding perks and changing the growth mechanics. One perk per five levels. Three attribute points per level to go where you want 'em and you'll get between two and four pre-determined points based on your job. Also gonna be adding more jobs.
Job specific skills will also require that you actually be in the job to use them. Or else that the Gamer unlock the ability to 'Equip' the abilities of a second job.
We're hoping that getting a bit more engagement with the system as a global tool might help to ground individuals as compared to the current mess we're dealing with.
We're also looking into more options for a prestige system. The base + 10% of total you've got going on is, uh, not as balanced as initially intended. A lot of that's on you, y'know, but the rest is on me. It compounds power. Which is cool and all from the receiving end but it's obviously not so entertaining for us.
Might do one time flat bonuses when transmigrating based on the level of the current job. Still a cheat in the wrong hands, which is all of 'em, but hopefully it'll advance a bit slower.
Alright! That's the business out of the way. Now, you asked me a question a bit ago about the familiars?
Their binding is to the master. First and final. They can be used as a sympathetic link for the casting of magics and stuff, yeah, but that requires specific spells or skills.
If you leave Hades, they leave Hades. Even if they eat the crap food down there, they won't be tied to the realm because they're tied to you.
Okay! Buh-bye now. Go break something funny!
Love ~Ultra-powerful best goddess Terra-Tan! ~~
-----
Alchemist closed the window with a deep, silent sigh of frustration. The message did explain some of the oddities he'd noticed with his attributes in the morning but it raised a significant number of questions.
He'd checked the Vocations tab and it had been expanded, which was good. Not particularly exciting for him, given that virtually all of the skills he actually used had come from Materia but it was... Something. At least.
He looked up for a moment, watching as Cinder savaged a condemned soul while Cerberus and Ash eagerly watched on, waiting for their turns.
Hades apparently had something he needed to do at the Temple of Styx, Zagreus was probably somewhere else in Tartarus and Cerberus was a bit too energetic for most people to actually dog-sit.
Alchemist had volunteered to watch the massive red dog when he'd heard Hades bellowing about Zagreus not being in the house. It got Hades to shut up, gave Alchemist a reason to stretch his legs and he'd been wanting to get the dogs out and about.
Alchemist was above bi-winning. He was Tri-Winning!
~~To: Ultra-powerful best goddess Terra-Tan! ~~
~~ So, quick question. I got into my system and noticed most of the skills and passive abilities were greyed out except for the ones connected to Monk, the job I've left equipped since there weren't any more for me to grab. And all of the ones that were connected to the Materia I'd eaten.
But my spells were untouched. And I've got a bunch of skills that I know could've been job-specific if they hadn't been unlocked through another mechanic. Like Steal. Or Mug. I can still use those from the looks of things.
I'm guessing that anything learned independently is left untouched? And I suppose I should ask what happens if a job specific skill is learned through an alternative manner? I mean, I have Jump Materia. I could have one mastered and tested in a few hours.
Though those aren't the real question I have in mind.
The Job System that Player One uses is closer in function to the unit function in Disgaea or maybe Dragon Quest Three, so her having a progression system that rewards the exploration of it makes sense. My system, in contrast, appears to be closer to Final Fantasy Three or Eleven. Mastering a job leaves it in a static position and they could better be considered titles or equipment in some ways.
How will these new limitations interact with my own progression? In the fashion you've stated, it would be my understanding that my own capabilities will quickly plateau and see me passed in short order should Player One or another Gamer with System Functions similar to her own make a concerted effort to exploit the Class Mechanics that you've outlined.
Cordially, A ~~
Alchemist clicked send and pushed the window to the side.
"Hup-hup!" He shouted, drawing the attention of the trio of dogs. "Let's go, next room!"
The trio of hellbeasts had killed everything else in the room. Cerberus could just bite most of the spirits in half but the girls both had figured out how to throw fireballs. From their mouths.
Alchemist was debating teaching the hounds how to catch themselves on fire when he was brought up short in the next room. The twisting halls of Tartarus had seen fit to direct him towards Zagreus.
"-Willfully, uninclined to take a mate, at all!" A booming voice sort of... Laughed from within a strange distortion in the middle of the room.
"Probably for the best." Alchemist called, drawing the attention of the gods calling into the Netherworld as Cerberus barreled past him to accost Zagreus. The distortion, glowing with a pair of sigils that indicated Zeus and Artemis, twisted as though to try and catch the mage in its view. "Pressing that issue didn't work out too well in the past, after all."
A quick twist confirmed that Alchemist was wearing his rings. He already knew his studs were in his earlobes. He didn't necessarily feel threatened but he also knew that both of the gods in question were even more prideful than most.
"Now even the dead are daring to comment upon my spinster daughter?" Zeus questioned, his voice like thunder. "Such shamelessness! Who are you to comment on matters that are so far beyond you?"
"A student of history." Alchemist offered, paying special attention to the way Zeus spoke. He seemed to think Alchemist was simply one of the standard residents of the afterlife rather than anything else. That was... Workable. "I remember the results that came about the last time the gods of Olympus tried to play matchmaker among themselves. Hephaestus has been miserable ever since."
"...Never did I think that I would see the day in which someone attempts to defend my decisions as being so insulting." A sibilant, hostile voice called through the distortion. Artemis, clearly. "But to compare me to so loathsome a woman, to insinuate that my character is so thoroughly equal to-"
Alchemist pursed his lips and looked to the side as Artemis continued to pontificate, pulling up the response he'd gotten from Terra.
~~ FROM: Ultra-powerful best goddess Terra-Tan! ~~
~~ Sorry, that's my bad! I should've been way more clear!
That's how I'll be changing progression for the Beta testers. Your system is a bit too unstable to have an entire mechanic ripped out and replaced.
I mean, I could do it. I could even force it to continue to operate. But the results really wouldn't be pretty. I'd compare it to lobotomizing your soul and that's still underselling it.
It's why I'm not manually adding or removing things from your System. I've taken a snapshot a few times and tried editing it on our test server and it just keeps crashing the reality it's in.
I did patch an update for your job system. Instead of having everything turned on at all times, you're down to two 'Jobs' at a time. Just click the 'Multiclass' option if you go to select a new job and keep me updated on how things go? The standard unlock condition that we're currently going with is to have two prestiges or transmigrations completed for it to auto-unlock.
Also? Are you ever going to test our re-programmed Ra-Seru? I think they could be great for the tutorial stage for new Gamers since they do have a tendency to die inside of a week.
Lots of love, Ultra-powerful best goddess Terra-Tan! ~~
"-so vile and foul tempered!" Artemis concluded, drawing Alchemist's attention back up to the distortion. He looked across to Zagreus but the man was busy being licked to death by the three heads of Cerberus.
"I apologize. I didn't mean to compare you to your aunt in quite that way." Alchemist hadn't been paying attention to whatever Artemis had said but he knew it would basically boil down to 'Mah pride!'. "I'm simply suggesting that attempting to force the issue would have significant long-term results which would see you and your 'Mate' enjoying an unending marriage of wedded misery. Similar to Hephaestus and the mockery Aphrodite has made of him."
"...I suppose there is some wisdom to be found in your words, Specter." Zeus said, his voice slow and considering. "I simply worry for my daughter. She is well past the age where a goddess should be expected to find a proper mate. I fear that her inability to procure one for herself may lead to her gaining a reputation as hostile and inhospitable to the idea."
"...Father, I-" Artemis started to speak.
"She is." And Alchemist was just done with this particular encounter. He whistled sharply, drawing two of Cerberus's heads towards him. With a snap of his fingers, the great hound was bounding towards him. "That's the point. She wouldn't be happy in a marriage and she already has a sharp tongue. Forcing her to put up with a man wouldn't curb it, it'd just encourage her to sharpen it on her captive victim. Different means, different reasons, still a miserable marriage."
From Alchemist's own memories, he knew this particular iteration of Artemis was wary of people, asocial and struggled with the complexities of political doublespeak such as what was practiced on Olympus. And if she wasn't willing to come out and say to Zeus what she could be bribed into telling Zagreus?
Well... Alchemist wasn't quite spoiling for a fight but he wouldn't say 'no' to an opportunity to see how strong Zeus was. This one wasn't the same as the Zeus in his own reality, he knew that and accepted it. But they were cut from the same cloth, different but similar.
He began to walk away, ignoring the shouting coming from the channel the gods had opened into the Netherworld. He had three dogs that still had too much energy and he had a dryad to find. He wasn't about to accomplish any of that by listening to the gods bicker.
-----
Atop Olympus two gods stood around a viewing pool. The scene they gazed upon was murky, the connection poor.
Reaching beyond the mortal world was always difficult.
"Such impudence!" Zeus roared, lightning flickering between the flowing strands of his beard. "Were they not already condemned to Tartarus, I would cast them down myself!"
"I can't believe he actually said that!" Artemis, her green hair tied down in a messy ponytail, had one hand fingering the string of her bow. The other was raised to her face, covering her eyes.
"I know. You have my apologies, Artemis." The king of the gods reached across the pool and placed a massive hand on his daughter's thin shoulders. "I will send a message to Hades immediately. Such shamelessness, even the dead must remember to show us the proper respect!"
"No, father, I..." Artemis brought a hand up and placed it over her father's. Against his near titanic proportions, it looked as though she were a child in comparison. "I... I will hunt this fool myself!"
"Artemis?" Zeus questioned, withdrawing his hand. "The Underworld is a horrid, hostile place. Only Hades traverses it with ease, even we are unable to navigate its endless corridors of darkness."
"Then it shall make for the perfect hunting grounds." Artemis argued, returning her hand to her bow. "It shall mask both hunter and hunted! Such shall make for the greatest test of my skills!"
"...Very well." The crackling and popping that came from the elder god faded, his blue eyes locked on his daughter. "I shall draft a letter explaining the nature of your hunt for Hades. Rest, prepare yourself and I shall have Hermes deliver you to the first leg of your journey in the morning."
Artemis nodded, watching through the cracks between her fingers as her father turned and departed.
Whoever the spirit was, it spoke truths she'd struggled to find the words for. It said them plainly, honestly and with a surety that Artemis was rarely able to afford herself. He'd told her father one of the uncertainties that filled her heart and sharpened her words.
Whoever they were, however they knew, Artemis would have answers.
-----
Zagreus panted as he ran through the darkened ruins of Tartarus, following the leftovers of broken spirits and ruined specters. Cerberus was clearly showing his talents as the premier guard of the netherworld.
The burning remains, on the other hand, were rather offputting.
Normally, Tartarus was rather adept at distracting and disorienting those attempting to traverse the halls. Even Zagreus, after countless years spent trying to escape, could find no easy means of navigation. His father could offer tokens that would stabilize the realm for those traversing it, yes, though he refused to do so as a matter of course.
He finally did catch up with Alchemist and the trio of hounds at the edge of Tartarus, standing across from the one Fury he most dearly did not wish to meet.
Tisiphone. The mad one.
The pinpricks of her yellow eyes were locked on Alchemist, the man holding on to the collars of both of the smaller dogs. Cerberus was happily sitting next to him, dwarfing Alchemist with his massive frame.
"Murderer..." She muttered, staring at him. Her lash held in a loose grip, unseeing eyes locked on Alchemist's face.
His passive face.
"How many?" Alchemist asked, his arms jerking as he held his hounds in place.
"Murderer." Tisiphone said again, her hands trembling. Her voice wavered, her head tilted forward just slightly but her eyes remained unmoving.
"I know." Alchemist agreed, calmly. "How many?"
"Alchemist?" Zagreus whispered, his voice far quieter than the thumping of Cerberus's tail against the floor. "Sir, if you'll listen to anything I say, I must implore you listen to this. Tisiphone is not to be trifled with."
"Su-Seven." Tisiphone started to speak, a word more complex than just 'Murderer'.
"I'm aware." Alchemist nodded as he quietly answered Zagreus. "It- She's painful to look at."
"Thousand." Tisiphone continued, her eyes drifting to look at something over Alchemist's shoulder.
"No, sir, she's dangerous!" Zagreus hissed, one hand grasping at the hilt of his sword as the broken woman's parched lips parted in a cracked hiss.
"Thousand." Tisiphone repeated, her eyes shaking wildly, darting left and right.
"She's sick." Alchemist disagreed, vehemence in his voice. "She's sick and nobody felt like asking Apollo for help. Your father chose to leave her in this condition rather than asking your cousin for help, rather than owing someone else a favor."
The mage released his grip on his dogs collars and the two started to dart forward, their hackles raised.
"Sit!" Alchemist commanded, steel in his voice. The two rather leggy black wolves froze in place and then sat.
Instead Alchemist himself stepped forward. His steps measured, his pace even.
"Thousand. Murdered..." Tisiphone's jaw hung loose, the word croaked into the stagnant, fetid air. "Murderer. Murderer! Murderer!"
She raised her hand, her lash coming to life before it darted forward.
"Watch out!" Zagreus shouted, one hand held out ineffectually as Alchemist-
Was struck across the face, the lash biting into his flesh and rending a deep wound across his cheek.
Yet he did not stop. Nor did he even slow down.
"Murderer!" Tisiphone screamed, the thin slits of her sunken nose flaring wildly as she pulled her whip back for another strike. It struck Alchemist again as he continued his approach, his blood spilling across the floor as Tisiphone continued her assault. Each blow accompanied by another frenzied shout declaring his sins. "Murderer! Murderer!"
Zagreus swallowed, doubt filling his heart as he readied himself to run in. He made it but only a few steps when he heard something rather surprising.
"No." One of the hounds Alchemist had been holding said. To him.
"What are you going on about?!" Zagreus asked, flinching at the sound of Tisiphone's lash ripping flesh from bone. "She'll kill him!"
"No." The other dog said, its voice rough and deep. "Sit."
"But she'll-" He started to argue before a giant red paw pressed down on him, knocking Zagreus to the ground.
"No." The first dog repeated. "Sit."
Zagreus, held down under the paw of Cerberus, forced himself to look away from the spectacle before him. Falling in battle was one thing, he'd done it often enough. Simply walking before your murderess and allowing her to kill you in her frenzied madness... There was something unsightly about it.
"Each time I've ventured here, I'd hoped to find you." Alchemist said, his words falling on deaf ears. "And each time, Tartarus itself ensured I would fail."
"Murderer!" Tisiphone shrieked madly, Zagreus could hear her whip ripping through the air and missing its mark, striking stone instead of flesh.
"The ones that care for you cannot help you." The mage continued and Zagreus found his eyes drawn back to the spectacle as Alchemist approached the mad Fury. "The ones that can help you, do not care to."
A brilliant glow suffused the wizard's hands as he lashed out, grabbing on to Tisiphone's face whilst she reared back, ready to strike him once more.
"I know." Alchemist's words, while strangely soft, still carried the distance to Zagreus. "Since Cithaeron, you've been raging. Trapped in the darkness, shackled with bloody duty, abandoned and rejected..."
Zagreus didn't know what was happening. The mad glint he'd known since his youth was fading from Tisiphone's eyes. Her face, horrid and wilted, looked softer.
Whole.
"Get away from her!" A new voice shouted from behind Zagreus, one he recognized. Megaera.
Alchemist did not in fact get away from her. Instead, Zagreus could tell that he was staring directly into the madwoman's eyes. Something in the man seemed to deflate, the steel that the god had seen in the wizard's spine, heard in his voice seemed to fade.
Or, perhaps, Alchemist simply put it away.
He let go of Tisiphone's face and began to head towards the exit, raising one hand into the air and snapping his fingers. A signal for the hounds. His two familiars bounded after him and even Cerberus released his hold to chase after the mage!
Tisiphone, meanwhile, dropped to her knees. The Fury brought her hands up and gazed at her palms, tears leaking from her eyes. Zagreus was just getting his feet underneath of him when Megaera dropped from the air and latched on to her sister as Tisiphone drew in a shuddering, keening breath.
Zagreus debated trying to speak, to ask them what had happened... But the venomous look Megaera sent him, he knew better than to press his luck. Instead he made haste for the exit, keeping his eyes on the tail of Cerberus.
He had questions he'd like to get answers to. Perhaps the most pressing of which was to ask Alchemist what it was that he'd done!
Tisiphone...
Tisiphone had looked sane.
-----
Cerberus bounded along through the fiery mire of Asphodel, his tongues tasting the sulfuric air for the first time in decades. There were so many things he could smell, not just the specters or the stressed metal-dragon man but vague and distant scents so far away. The promises of fresh air and freedom that he was sometimes tasked with ensuring were denied to the creatures lingering within Master's realm.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd been able to just run. Run and pounce and play. The little ones, the puppies he was running with, they were different. They breathed fire, it sparked along their fur as though waiting to ignite.
One of them, the Ash, jumped against his side and Cerberus pretended to fall over, his massive red tail thumping against the ground.
"Alchemist!" His boy, Master's boy, shouted into the room as he also ran to give chase. "Alchemist, sir! Please, wait!"
The metal-dragon man that Master told him to obey paused, an uncertain look on his muzzle before he shook his head and huffed.
"I'm hardly running." The Alchemist called back towards Zagreus. "I just don't want to be in range of Megaera's whip when she decides to find something to be angry about."
"That..." The strange metal shoes on Zagreus's feet clanged loudly as he caught up to them all. "That may be for the best, actually. Meg does tend to do things she regrets when she feels embarrassed."
"Hardly a unique flaw." The Alchemist answered as he continued to walk on ahead, one hand reaching up to rub at Cerberus's shoulder.
Cerberus liked this one. This one wasn't afraid.
"Sir... What did you do to Tisiphone?" Zagreus asked, falling into step beside the strange mortal. "She seemed rather subdued by- Sir, your face-?"
"Yes, I'm aware." There was sarcasm in the mage's voice. Cerberus knew, his Master loved sarcasm. "I'm not especially handsome."
"No, that's not- Sir, I saw you take several blows from Tisiphone's whip! She's been known to rip flesh from bone with that weapon!" Cerberus didn't pause at that declaration but one of his heads did come down to look at the mage. Indeed, he could smell drying blood on him. Dragon's blood. "Yet you seem to have already healed whatever harm she inflicted?"
"That's my specialty." The man told the godling, shrugging briefly before grabbing Cerberus's head and scratching around his ears. "I heal. I like healing. I healed Tisiphone, too."
"I see... I'd thought..." His Zagreus shook his head, uncertainty in his gray and black eyes. "I fear I've made an error in judgement."
"I do that a lot." The man admitted, letting go of Cerberus as one of the pups butted her shoulder against the mage's leg. He leaned down to start rubbing her head instead. "Unless it hurt someone, I wouldn't worry about it."
Cerberus was not jealous of Cinder. He wasn't!
"You don't seem to worry overmuch about things, do you?" Zagreus asked as they continued deeper into the Asphodel. "That's rather enviable, I should think."
"...I worry about a lot of things." The man argued quietly. "I just accept that I can only control a few things. I can't control everything. And I really don't want to control even half of what I actually do."
His Zagreus seemed ready to comment, a thoughtful look on his face... But he kept silent instead.
More specters appeared as they traveled further from Master's home. Once upon a time, they would know to cower and fear before the might of Cerberus!
Once... But that was years ago. Now the fools thought they could stand against the greatest of guard hounds and survive!
Cerberus ran them down with glee, gnashing teeth and rending claw tearing into flesh. Bone and blade alike were snapped in twain within his jaws. The pups and their fire aided him greatly in teaching the Alchemist and his Zagreus how to properly chase and hunt!
He'd missed this. So much.
Cerberus only wished Master was with him, too.
Ash would bark and Cinder would send fire chasing after the spirits, condemned to wander the halls eternal. His Zagreus watched, his fangs bared and one hand rest upon his metal sharp stick. The Alchemist watched as well, his form relaxed like an old wolf but his eyes were alert and tracking every action, every foe.
It did not take long to rout the fools. Truly, Cerberus wished it lasted longer. Every part of him did.
"I think that's it for the day." No! Cerberus whined at hearing those words! "Now, now. Ash and Cinder are getting tired. This is good for them but they're still young."
Hearing the Alchemist's words, Cerberus turned to look at the two pups. Both were excited and eager to continue... But they were also panting, sparks escaping their mouths with every breath. Rather than fire licking at their pelts, the girls both simply released a weak burst of smoke from time to time.
Cerberus chuffed quietly, as quietly as he could at any rate, and sat on his haunches.
"How do you plan to return, Sir?" His Zagreus asked, mismatched eyes gazing on the path behind them. "It's rather distant and the path is ever changing."
"I'm never that far from home." The mage grinned, his lips parting slightly in mocking threat. He raised one hand and snapped his fingers, opening a great big hole in the air. One that was easily large enough for Cerberus to walk through! "You coming along?"
"...I think I'll press a bit deeper." His Zagreus rebuffed the offer. "I've heard there's a great hydra that calls this realm its home. Slain by Hercules, I believe."
"Have fun." The Alchemist quietly sighed and then snapped his fingers again and pointed at the hole, prompting the pups to run into it. Cerberus began to follow at a more sedate pace. "It's probably not weak to flames any more and I know your sword isn't the best weapon to use against bone. If you can find a way to awaken a mace, that may serve you better."
Cerberus turned and watched as Zagreus waved at them, a wide smile on his face before he dashed farther in.
With another snap of his fingers, the mage sealed the hole shut.
"Alright." The man stretched and Cerberus raised his snouts, sniffing at the strange, magic-filled air of the place he'd found himself. "That's the exercise. Who's hungry?"
"Me!" Screamed Ash.
"Me!" Shouted Cinder.
"Me!" "Me!" "Me!" Cerberus responded, all three heads barking at once.
-----
"Accessing one's core is often strange at first." Nyx had led Billy and Diana into a room deep in the unused wing of the House. The shadows were deeper, more fluid within. The air stank of something stale, bordering foul. Just so, it was equally sweet, almost cloying.
Billy didn't know what to make of it.
"You are touching on the very fabric of reality in its rawest form." Nyx continued to narrate as they pressed onward. "Connected deeply to what -Is-, not just what is experienced. This is the dividing line between mere excellence and divinity for those who ascend. What separates Champions from the Gods."
"Wait..." Billy felt there was something watching him. Watching all of them. The sounds of running water set his nerves on edge. "Does that mean there are gods who don't have a domain? Or, like, can't access their domain?"
"Some. Yes." Nyx answered, not looking back as they continued deeper within. Passing huge spiderwebs, often filled with the husks of massive, monstrous insects. "Hercules is one you may know of. His domain, however vague or clear, is beyond his reach. He has great strength, incredible power, many heroic deeds to his name... But he did not do these acts as a god. His excellence surpasses any acts that a mortal may attempt but he has done nothing unique enough that a god could not do."
The primordial goddess sighed as they stopped before a door. Old and made of stone, it likely predated everything else in the netherworld.
"Hercules struggled to hold the world aloft. Atlas has done so since time immemorial. Hercules shot the golden hind to capture it, Artemis need only offer them feed from the palm of her hand." The door slowly ground itself open as Nyx continued to speak, leading them into the dimly lit cavern beyond. "Hercules is a demi-god who never truly connected with his domain. This is but one half of the painting, of course. Those who could not-"
Beyond them, lights began to light themselves. Torches and braziers, two rows laid out before them as far as the eye could see.
And Billy really wished he couldn't see when the darkness was lifted.
Massive skeletons lined the walls. Their arms outstretched, their feet bound in great chains and huge beams of metal pierced through their hands. Countless such skeletons were crucified, some... Some still had flesh, though. Some still had eyes, empty and broken but doubtlessly alive.
"And those who no longer can." The dour goddess continued her earlier words, now echoing through the massive halls.
"What-?!" Diana asked, freezing in place as the dead and dying were revealed. "Nyx? What is this?!"
"The Titans." Nyx answered calmly, her footsteps slowing as the woman turned around. "The ones that lost the war, the ones cast down from Olympus. Here they remain, bound, broken and sealed. Their powers stripped by the decree of Zeus."
Billy felt bile churning in his gut. The skeletons, all of them were warped and twisted. Some had arms that were too long, others had mismatched limbs. More than a few had a single eye-socket in the middle of their skulls rather than two eyes like he did.
The ones that were still alive, for whatever value there was to the word, were worse. Skin so pale as to be transparent. Filth coating the lower halves of their bodies. Blood still flowed from where they were impaled, left to slowly die over the millennia.
"What?" Diana sounded faint at the revelation. "Why would he- What purpose is there in doing something so monstrous?!"
"These are titans, Diana." Nyx explained slowly as she continued to walk down the aisle between the condemned. "They are still immortal, still gods. Breaking such a thing is a slow, painful process. As they fade, as their lives dwindle, their influence on the world above also fades. In time they shall be fully forgotten, their aspects erased from reality. When such happens, those that linger shall properly die. Their divinity broken and their souls so thoroughly faded than there is nothing for the Styx to find."
"...Why?" Billy's voice wavered, acid crawling up the back of his throat. "Why are you showing us this?"
"Is it not obvious?" Nyx asked, genuine curiosity in her voice. "If not, I shall make it plain to you. This is a warning."
The goddess turned around and the torches faded from existence. Stars glowed in her shadow as clouds billowed in the air overhead.
"If one wishes to challenge Zeus? Be certain in your actions. Else this may be the fate that awaits you..."
