death defied | Glowfic Constellation

on_my_way_again

The river Styx, like most of the Underworld, follows no consistent, constant geography. Instead, it's in a constant state of flow, shifting and changing its banks and course as the realm itself rearranges its structure.

That is only one of the many ways the realm has of keeping its reputation as inescapable, Lord Hades's rulings being the only thing that can grant one permission to leave. This has happened only a handful of times in history, all of them exceptional in one way or another. And as far as the living and the vast majority of the dead are aware, this is an absolute fact of the world, as unchangeable as gravity.

This is not to get into the fact that, unless you were sent to the bowels of Tartarus for punishment, you would have very little reason to want to escape. There was a brief period during which the Asphodel Meadows were flooded with a burning river a few centuries ago, but the Queen of the Underworld has long since dealt with that and the land of the dead is actually a reasonably pleasant place to spend eternity in.

Very few people are aware of the one exception to the rule, taking the form of the Prince of the Underworld, Lord Zagreus. He has been the first and only person to ever escape against his Lord Father's wishes, and although he cannot stay on the surface for very long due to an intrinsic conflict between his godhead and his mortal blood, he has become proficient enough at it that it was made into a job, finding security flaws and other issues that might jeopardize the so-called inescapability of the realm.

Now one of the few fixed structures of the Styx, the small pool of it which ends right in front of the hall at the House of Hades, sees its surface bubbling once more before the god of life's figure emerges from it, blinking some crimson liquid away and cracking his joints to get rid of the phantom pain from his most recent death. The water slides off his body and clothes with preternatural haste as he walks up the steps and past the long line of shades standing before his father's throne and desk to petition for one thing or another.

"Hello once again, my friend," he says, nodding a greeting in the direction of Hypnos, god of sleep and official secretary of the Underworld.

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on_my_way_again

And then he pulls Than closer for said proper kiss, which only starts with a chaste peck but Zag quickly presses his advantage to bend Than back for a proper Hollywood kiss.

death_incarnate

Thanatos gasps a bit but he has Floating^TM on his side and so he does not lose his balance.

(Though he's sure Zagreus would've caught him if he had. Which makes him feel far too many things right now.)

on_my_way_again

And after Zagreus feels has been an appropriate amount of time to spend snogging his lover he pulls Than back up straight and beams at him.

death_incarnate

Thanatos floats upright and raises an eyebrow. "Quite done with the proper kiss, then?" he says, a bit too much on the toneless side for anyone who knows him well enough.

on_my_way_again

Zagreus knows him well enough. He really enjoys causing these secret reactions on Thanatos, and beams even wider. "Yes, Than, we are. Now shoo, go have your work time and stuff. I will see you later."

death_incarnate

That sounded almost like an order or something. This is far too many feelings and anyone who says his cheeks turn bluer at that is LYING. "Yes."

on_my_way_again

"I love you, Thanatos."

death_incarnate

UGH why must he do this. "I love you too, Zagreus." Okay this is good enough he can disappear now right? Right. Poof.

on_my_way_again

Zag laughs and shakes his head.

Okay, he should... look for Nyx, actually. He wants to ask her a question.

Nyx

mother_night

Nyx is quite predictable in her chosen floating locations, so she's not particularly hard to find. She makes no comment on Zagreus's state of dress, nor his state of being marked. While she almost certainly notices, it's hardly like Nyx to display much of a reaction. All she says is a perfectly ordinary:

"Hello, child."

on_my_way_again

"Nyx! I was looking for you. I have a kind of... difficult question and I figured you were the most likely to know how to get an answer."

Nyx

mother_night

"Ask, and I will offer whatever answer I can."

on_my_way_again

"So, I cannot stay up on the surface for very long, right? I burn up, I can sleep and eat to last days but it's never longer than that. But other gods can. Like Than himself."

Nyx

mother_night

"Yes. Your binding on pain of death to this realm is, if anything, a peculiarity. One only truly matched, I think, by your father. Though as you'll have noticed, while Thanatos is often on the surface, his home has ever been here. So I will not say there is no binding for other gods of the Underworld at all."

on_my_way_again

"But Father was once an Olympian, right? So what I'm getting at is... how do I get around that? I, I don't want to leave or run away or anything, not anymore at least, but I do want to..." And here, words fail him, at least momentarily.

Nyx

mother_night

"I understand, child," she says, gently. As Thanatos's mother, and probably therefore extremely accustomed to people feeling things but not being able to put them to words, this is certainly probable. "Hades was an Olympian, and took up his mantle later. With it, he took up his binding. I do not think he could return to being what he was even if he tried, now. But you are not him."

on_my_way_again

"That sounds promising..."

Nyx

mother_night

"Perhaps. But it is not a thing that has been done, before, and I do not know how to accomplish it. Your binding and your mantle as Son of Hades and Prince of the Underworld are, if not one and the same, at least inextricably tied. I do not expect you could put down one without also putting down the other. And then there is the question of if you could reclaim them after."

on_my_way_again

"I... think I see? I would have to... abdicate? What even is there to abdicate? If being Prince of the Underworld has any perks I don't think anyone's mentioned them to me."

Nyx

mother_night

"More than abdicate, child. It is not a mere title that binds you here. It is your bloodline, your history, many of the things that make you yourself. That you are your father's son, even though you are not, and will never be, his heir."

on_my_way_again

"...this sounds like you are saying it's impossible except not...?"

Nyx

mother_night

"I do not know if it is possible or not. What I do know is that if there is any god that could dissolve or subvert the ties of blood that bind you, even when it seems impossible, it would be you."

on_my_way_again

He opens his mouth but closes it in silence and furrows his eyebrows. "Damnit," he says after a couple of seconds.

Nyx

mother_night

"It is not an easy thing, that you ask. But that does not mean it is not worth doing."

on_my_way_again