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Melinoë involuntarily cried out as she crashed back-first into one of the columns. She was breathing heavily, barely holding her staff in her hands. Her head was spinning, and the girl could feel the blood rapidly leaving her body along with her strength. At this rate, she definitely wouldn't be able to reach the field where Cerberus most often roamed, let alone Tartarus.
This was another descent, one in which the young witch had decided to give herself a trial. To give up all the maps and try to use the blessings of her relatives as little as possible. She wanted to finally bring back the harsh training she had once undergone under her mentor's guidance. Hades's daughter simply could not rely forever on the favor of her allies. She had to finally become truly strong.
Unfortunately, it seemed this had been a bad idea. The enemies' armor was incredibly difficult to pierce. She spent too much strength and time on a single foe, and they were not decreasing in number — quite the opposite. With each new zone, there were more and more of them. Melinoë was spending all her gold on healing items rather than useful tools, which was very bad.
As a result, unable to bear it any longer, she exhaled tiredly and fell to the ground.
"Return to the shadows."
The girl whispered, expecting the mentor's circle to appear beneath her and finally send her back to the Crossroads to recover a little.
But it did not appear. The return circle simply did not manifest.
The young witch's eyes widened as she realized the spell was simply not working. She quickly and nervously tried to find the cause of the problem, ignoring her surroundings and the fact that everything was swimming before her eyes due to massive blood loss.
Then Hades's daughter cried out in pain as one of the enemies sank its claws into her side, digging deep.
"Return to the shadows!"
She shouted, not understanding why the spell wasn't working. Was there some artifact here that was blocking her magic and her mentor's? Melinoë hissed in pain again as another claw tore the skin on her leg.
The girl breathed convulsively, trying to find her staff to fight back. She had to hold on until the circle appeared. If such a problem had occurred, it meant something serious had happened, and the young witch needed to resolve it. If she continued lying on the ground, then…
Suddenly, Hades's daughter coughed, tasting metal on her tongue, as one of the enemies kicked her hard in the back. The staff, which had been lying right next to one of Melinoë's hands, was knocked somewhere aside, and she simply could not reach it.
Her entire body was in pain. Blood had already pooled into a small puddle beneath the girl. She could hear the noise of another crowd of enemies appearing somewhere in the distance. Finally, unable to bear it, the young witch lost consciousness, slipping into blissful oblivion.
It felt so good. So light.
All of Melinoë's previous feelings — such as anxiety, fear, anger — had vanished, leaving behind only a pleasant and even warm emptiness. The pain from the terrible battle had completely disappeared, replaced by absolutely nothing. She could not feel any of the wounds that should have remained, which was quite strange but so pleasant.
The girl seemed to be floating in a place so warm and cozy. Like in childhood, when her mentor would tuck her in before sleep. There was not a single thought in her head, only the desire to stay in this place as long as possible, never leaving it.
Suddenly, someone coughed above her head.
"Melinoë, I'm glad to see you here, of course, but I think there are less painful ways to get down here than this."
Melinoë flinched and abruptly opened her eyes, drawing air back into her lungs. It seemed she had not been breathing at all this whole time and had not even noticed. The girl opened her eyes, slowly shifting her gaze to the step she had been placed on. After thinking a bit, she decided to examine the surroundings she had landed in.
She was in a water reservoir fed by the bloody river Styx. The young witch was right at one of the entrances for shadows in the main hall of her father's house. Everywhere lay repair materials, broken items, and tools. The barriers that had blocked off this area had been moved aside, apparently so Zagreus could easily reach his sister.
Speaking of which, he had been standing over her the whole time and, noticing her gaze, smiled and waved his hand. Hades's daughter coughed in embarrassment, quickly shaking her head to shake off the droplets.
"I take it this is your first death?"
"I… um… Yeah…"
Melinoë nodded uncertainly, shamefacedly examining the water in front of her, trying to push herself up on her elbows. Suddenly she yelped, falling back onto the step. Her arms felt like they were made of jelly and could not support her at all. Zagreus quickly leaned toward his sister, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't get up so suddenly. Death is not a pleasant thing to begin with, and you're still inexperienced in this matter."
The girl smiled, snorting.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to trust a professional like you."
She said. The young man only chuckled, carefully lifting the young witch's back.
"How fortunate that I don't mind at all. You're lucky it was me who noticed you, not Father. He would probably have raised the whole house to find out what, how, and why it happened."
"Oh, yes, that's probably good."
Melinoë grew embarrassed as Zagreus sat her up on the surface. After all, their father sometimes worried too much about his daughter after his liberation from his chains. It was probably sweet, but the girl did not think there was any reason for it, especially after she had defeated Chronos and Typhon herself.
"By the way, how did you manage to die? If I remember correctly, Hecate said that after a defeat, you are immediately transported to the Crossroads. She supposedly cast some kind of spell on you for that. I don't mind you being transported here, of course, but still."
"That's quite an interesting question."
The young witch muttered as her brother bent her legs, preparing them for lifting. After thinking a bit, she replied:
"Perhaps it's because of the spell's age or because of the strain on my mentor's magic. It's hard to explain, but she is spending too much power on restoring the underworld and the surface, leaving her with insufficient strength to maintain the return spell. Or I made a mistake in it. Honestly, I still don't fully understand this situation and will try to ask my mentor about it."
"Alright, but I'll still tell the shadows to clear this area a bit. Just in case you end up here again and can't get to the main hall properly because of the debris."
Zagreus replied, then carefully lifted Melinoë by the shoulders. She immediately grabbed his arms, feeling how badly her legs were trembling.
"It's alright. This is normal. Your bones just need a little time to recover after death. But you need to move, or without light exercise, they'll take too long to recover. Once, I could barely move my arms, and then I walked around all day with arms like limp seaweed."
The young man said, and the girl involuntarily chuckled softly at the image. They slowly walked toward the lively part of the hall. The young witch, leaning on her brother, could barely move her legs, but she tried not to stop, although Zagreus occasionally took short breaks when he saw her legs starting to tremble too badly.
Finally, the two exited the restricted area and breathed a sigh of relief. Then Melinoë noticed movement from the corner of her eye and, looking at the far corner of the wall, saw Hypnos, who lazily smiled and waved at her.
"What a meeting. So I take it I didn't dream up the report about our dear princess's death?"
He said, yawning. The girl smiled awkwardly at him, nodding.
"I'm sorry for adding to your workload, Lord Hypnos."
"Lord Hypnos? Workload? Ha, right now, he needs anything to wake him up a bit, or he'll go back to sleep for a long time soon enough."
Zagreus replied for his friend, laughing quietly. Hypnos only chuckled at this, pulling a sheet from his blanket, apparently the one where Charon or Thanatos had recorded Melinoë's death. She still did not understand the terrible system of the underworld well.
"So, what do we have here… It seems luck with dogs runs in your family, seeing as you died from werewolves."
Hypnos said, reading the note. The girl only shrugged at this, while her brother thought for a moment, still supporting his sister. Then he looked back at Hypnos.
"Hypnos. Would you mind… not showing this report to my father?"
"Not show it?"
The chthonic god raised one eyebrow, looking at his friend. The latter nodded, smiling, and looked at him with a pleading gaze.
"Yes, not show it. Given the current state of affairs, if he finds out about Melinoë's death, there's a chance that… he'll go a little crazier, and everyone will have many new problems."
Melinoë was surprised by this request until she too thought about it, and then, realizing the possible scale of the tragedy, also looked pleadingly at Hypnos. He yawned again, thinking.
"Hmmm, I don't even know…"
He hummed, continuing to turn his head, pretending to think. After a few long minutes, Hypnos shrugged, putting the sheet back into his blanket.
"Well, I suppose I can delay this message for him a little. But only delay it. And a bottle of nectar from you. Or better yet — ambrosia."
Hypnos replied, settling more comfortably into his fabric, adjusting his sleep mask. Zagreus quickly nodded, beginning to lead Melinoë toward his room.
"Consider it done in no time!"
After that, he turned to his sister, tilting his head.
"Let's go. Until your spell starts working again, I think you'll have to stay at home for a bit. I recently unearthed my collection of items related to Heracles. I swear, you've never seen anything like it!"
"I'll be glad to hear about it."
The girl said, feeling that her legs were slowly but surely beginning to move more quickly and confidently.