Warning: Major spoilers for Hades. If you have not yet escaped, or have not played but plan to (and I do recommend it), I advise you not to read.
The Styx was pulling at him, against his skin, his bones, his blood as it flowed through his veins.
Ha, his blood, oh so different from the golden ichor that dripped off the Stygian Blade, as Alecto was so fond of reminding him. Red flowed down his arm, over the crossguard of his sword, trailing down the blade until it met with streaks of gold. The Mortal blood sizzled, boiling away as it made contact with Divine ichor.
He trudged through the snow, stopping briefly once more to watch the sun rise. He watched the pinks and oranges and yellows as they streaked across the sky, cutting into the dark blue, warming his too cold skin.
He was tired. So, so tired. Asterius had been difficult, as always, to say nothing of Theseus. Of course it had been Ares to grant Theseus his strength. He hated those times the most; the Doomed affliction Ares granted the old king's spear was agonising.
He'd been slow this time. Father's spear had cut deep, time and time again. Not enough to stop his vanquishing, but enough that he wouldn't have much time to see Mother.
He couldn't remember the steps he'd taken, but he'd arrived at Mother's garden, the warm glow of life and love not quite enough to cut through the chill in his bones.
"Zagreus!" Persephone called. "Oh, Zagreus, you're hurt!"
"It's fine," he groaned. "The Styx would have taken me regardless." He did his best to smile for her, but he knew his bitterness shone through.
"Oh my poor boy. Rest, Zagreus. Come here." She knelt in the grass, patting her hands against her legs.
"Mother, we don't have much time-"
"Then at least allow me to care for you while I can."
He sighed, but complied with her request. He lowered himself down to the grass slowly, hissing in pain as the wounds that covered his body stretched and pulled. He rested his head against her legs and closed his eyes, breathing in the earthy smells of Mother's farm as the sun slowly warmed his skin.
Persephone brushed her hands through his hair. "You've been fighting so hard for my sake," she whispered remorsefully.
"It's worth it," he returned quietly.
It was getting harder to speak already. The Styx was taking hold even quicker than normal. His physical condition was no doubt speeding up the process.
"You're leaving me again, aren't you?"
She was always quick to pick up when his body was failing him; when he could no longer resist the pull of the Styx.
"Come back to me, won't you?"
"Always."
And then, Zagreus died.
The Styx carried him away. Far, far away. It both weakened and strengthened him, washing away his Boons but restoring his body, before returning him to the Underworld.
Being the God of Rebirth had some perks. Regardless of how many times he died, he would try again, and again, and again.
He awoke in the dark beneath the Styx and made to stand, only for his head to smack painfully against cold rock above him. He gasped in surprise, sucking in a breath of warm, stale air, instead of the ice cold waters of the river.
Zagreus froze. He wasn't submerged in the Styx, but entrapped, surrounded on all sides by solid stone. He couldn't feel the river pulling at his body, so he was undoubtedly still within the Underworld, but where?
Stygius was still in hand, but he couldn't move it more than an inch, surrounded in rock as it was. He had some literal wiggle room that he used to its fullest to thrash around in his prison. Zagreus wouldn't consider himself claustrophobic, but there was something deeply disconcerting about waking encased in cold, solid stone.
There! Against his left arm, the stone began to give. He focused his efforts, doing what he could to gain leverage in the tight space to push against the side. He grunted in exertion, and the stone broke, his arm extending into open air. He pushed and pushed and pushed, breaking away more and more stone until he could pull himself out of his enclosure and into the cavern.
Zagreus groaned as he fell the half-metre to the floor, but quickly stood and reached into the new hole in the wall to grab a hold of Stygius, tugging sharply to free it from the rock.
"Where in Tartarus am I?" Zagreus muttered, studying his surroundings. He'd found himself in a large stone cavern, not unlike the cave tunnel he'd traversed many times when exiting the Temple of Styx, that certainly was not the House of Hades, nor any location in the Pit he knew of.
While recognition escaped him, he could say for certain it was still in the Underworld. The lack of the Styx's pull, combined with the ethereal glow that illuminated his surroundings with no discernable source assured him of as much.
So much for mystically awakening in the Mortal Realm, as he had dreamed of countless times.
As no answer seemed forthcoming, he would at least attempt to escape. If he was lucky, this path would take him out of the Underworld in a different location, and he'd be free to explore the Mortal Realm, perhaps even without confronting his father. Even if he would soon after be dragged back by the Styx, it would be a welcome reprieve on his weary mind.
Taking a glance back at the hole in the stone wall he'd practically been birthed from, he strode through the single tunnel that connected his chamber to hopefully find a way up.
After just a minute of walking, Zagreus came across a familiar figure.
"Asterius?" he asked the mythic bull-headed man.
The minotaur that turned to him was decidedly not Asterius. Disregarding the lack of weapon, armour, and smaller stature, this minotaur's eyes lacked the intelligent gleam that made Asterius such a dangerous foe. This creature's eyes were full of a primal rage, and nothing more.
The minotaur snorted, roared, then tilted its head forward and charged in an attempt to gore him on its horns.
The problem arose in that the creature was terribly slow.
Asterius' bull rush was terrifying in its own right, but rather easy to dodge, especially with his Dash (one of the few divine capabilities he possessed), meanwhile this charge was one he could avoid with something as simple as a sidestep.
As the minotaur passed him, he swung Stygius to slash at the minotaur's thigh in an attempt to slow it further, only for the entire blasted leg to come off! The minotaur howled and fell, unable to remain standing as its limb was swiftly removed.
Zagreus blinked in surprise. He examined Stygius to see if it had magically transformed into some mythically sharp blade when he wasn't looking, but found nothing amiss. He could think of nothing that would spontaneously grant him the capability to remove a minotaur's leg in a single swing, a swing that should have been able to do little more than open a narrow gash. And yet, evidently it had. The creature was slowly climbing to its knee as he approached.
The minotaur roared again and swung a fist at him, and Zagreus responded by swinging his sword up into it in order to leverage himself under the arm. Instead of his blade meating muscle and bone as strong as iron, it passed cleanly through without so much as pausing.
The severed limb sprayed blood and joined the leg he'd removed moments early on the floor. The minotaur howled again.
"Bloody Hell, mate, when did you become so damned weak?" he wondered aloud.
Zagreus brought Stygius up over its head, then down sharply. The blade cut through its skull easily, down through its neck, and nearly a third through its torso where, to his surprise, rather than evaporating like shades usually did, this one collapsed into ash.
With the creature rather easily defeated, he brought forth the Codex and found a new entry.
Minotaur:
First found on the Fifteenth floor of the Dungeon, this monster's strength is a dramatic step-up from other monsters found on earlier floors.
A monster, was it? That explained why it had died the way it did (He'd heard monster's bodies collapsed into sand when slain, though he still held the opinion that it looked far more like ash than sand), though it failed to explain other things.
What did it mean by a dungeon? Or the Dungeon, perhaps? And aside from that, the passage read far differently from other entries in the Codex. Far less of a recounting of one of Achilles' experiences and more like something that might be written on an information booklet.
If this minotaur were a 'dramatic step-up in strength' as the Codex claimed, just how weak were the monsters on the lower floors? Not that he was complaining to have started on the fifteenth floor, it did nothing but save him time, but he worried about how strong the monsters might become as he approached the surface.
He had, at most, fifteen floors to ascend. It was helpful to have a definitive goal, though he worried how long it may take. Though, with nothing better to do, he may as well start.
Zagreus soon found that each floor had a rather convenient staircase to climb to the next. He came across numerous new monsters as he ascended. Almiraj, Hellhounds, Silverbacks, then later Imps, Orcs, Hard Armoureds, and later still Needle Rabbits, Killer Ants, and War Shadows. Just to name a few.
What he discovered that was truly bizarre, was that the monsters were getting weaker as he ascended the floors, and not only that, but most didn't turn to ash as they were slain. Perhaps that was the nature of this place. It was called the Dungeon, after all, so perhaps the strongest of its monsters were at the bottom. It seemed rather backwards to him, but if it were true, he was doubly as happy to have started as high as the fifteenth.
It was upon the fifth floor that he came across his first Shades. They appeared strangely… solid, with a touch of divinity that had him questioning if they were gods in disguise. The Shades, all five of them carrying weapons and donned in armour, very clearly took notice of him, however did not approach, nor express hostility in the slightest. They ignored him.
That was a first. Being the son of the God of the Dead, and being the God of Rebirth in his own right, had had many a Shade approach him in an attempt to garner favour. To be not only ignored, but seemingly avoided was not something he had expected.
He continued ascending the floors, coming across newer, weaker monsters (such as Frog Shooters, Kobolds, and eventually Goblins), and many, many more Shades. Dozens upon dozens, more and more the further he ascended.
It was at the final stairway on the First floor, when he was forced into close proximity to these Shades that he realised they were not shades at all, but mortals. Mortals! He couldn't believe it, though there was certainly something more... permanent to them, a light gracing of divinity to them, something he wasn't sure he could explain.
He ascended the final staircase to what he hoped was the Mortal Realm and not the next stage of the Underworld.
The next room he entered was bustling, packed full of mortals of all kinds. He walked through the room slowly, observing the ebb and flow of the mortals within the room, a few forming short lines in front of counters, and many more talking in small groups.
"Excuse me, sir."
He whipped his head around in the direction of the address to find a beautiful, young, bespeckled woman behind one of the counters. She had a pair of long, pointed ears and appeared to be dressed in uniform. In front of her there was a little sign that read 'Closed'.
"Are you alright?" she continued, directly addressing him. "You seem lost.
He stepped over and lay his hands on the counter. "Erm, yes, I am. I've never been here before, I'm afraid," he admitted.
She looked pointedly at the hilt of Stygius that peeked over his shoulder. "I see you're an Adventurer, mister...?"
"Zagreus."
She nodded. "Mister Zagreus. My name is Eina Tuile, I work for the Guild as an Advisor for Adventurers such as yourself. If this is your first time into Orario's Dungeon, we will need to officially register you as an Adventurer."
That seemed like an awful lot of capitalised terms. Adventurer, Orario, Guild. He'd not heard of 'Orario' before, though to be fair that wasn't surprising. His knowledge of the Mortal Realm was rather constricted. He knew of little other than Greece, and even not much of that.
Regardless, he wasn't about to interrupt Miss Eina's explanations, and so he nodded.
She withdrew a sheet of paper from within her desk, and started reading aloud.
"Have you been granted a God's Grace, also known as a Falna?"
Falna, a God's Grace. Is that how they refer to the Olympian's Boons? Well, he had none anymore, all washed away by the Styx.
"Not anymore, I'm afraid."
"Not any-? O-oh. I'm sorry."
Sorry? "It's fine."
"Um, which god's familia were you a part of?"
Familia. Another unfamiliar term. It sounded like 'family' at least.
"Er, Hades."
Her lips pursed in thought. "I'm not familiar with that god."
Zagerus chuckled. "He's not exactly the type to get out much."
Eina breathed a sigh. "I see. Unfortunately, you'll not be allowed to register as an Adventurer unless you have a Falna, so you'll need to find a god willing to give you their blessing before you can enter the Dungeon. How long have you been Adventuring outside of Orario?"
It was incredibly hard to keep track of time in the Underworld, but he'd made it to the surface enough times that it had cycled through the seasons, and he'd taken numerous times as long to manage his first escape.
"Five years, about? I'm not sure exactly."
Eina blinked. "I see, in that case, you likely won't find it difficult to find a Familia to accept you. However, as your god has returned to Heaven, your Falna will have faded and should you receive a new one, it will read as Level One. Do you remember what your Status was before your god's passing?"
Heaven, Status, Level. More and more things he'd have to figure out.
"I don't, I'm sorry."
"That's fine," she assured. "Once you've regained your Status, you can come back in and we can evaluate your Excilia to make an estimate of your previous Status. Another thing to note is that while you will be returned to Level One, the rate at which your Excelia accumulates will be the same as before you lost your Falna."
"I see." He was just taking a guess, but it seemed that once he'd gotten a god's 'Falna', they'd calculate how powerful he was, and let him into the Dungeon. He wasn't quite sure why they wanted him to go back into the Dungeon, but there must be some draw, judging by the sheer number of 'Adventures' he'd come across.
"Could you maybe tell me where I could find some gods, then?"
"Of course."
"Where would I find Persephone?
"I'm sorry, but I don't recognise that god."
Damn. Worth a try.
"What about Zeus?"
"Zeus? He was sent back to Heaven over fifteen years ago."
"Poseidon?"
"Sent back at the same time as Zeus."
"Athena?"
"The same."
"Hermes?"
"Hermes is out of the city at the moment, I believe."
"Dionisus then?"
"I'm not familiar with them, I'm sorry."
"Artemis?"
"Only accepts women, I'm afraid."
Zagreus hummed in thought. She believed his father to have 'returned to Heaven', so he couldn't ask for him, and he was weary to ask for Ares or Aphrodite. They were rather frightening, not to mention awfully vengeful. He'd heard many a story of the despair Love and War had caused. He didn't want to ask for Demeter either, she was too, well, cold, and seemed to offer him aid in order to cause his father grief, rather than because of care for him.
"Would you perhaps be able to offer some recommendations then?"
Eina smiled. "I'd be happy to. Would you like a map as well?"
"That would be spectacular, thank you Miss Eina."
WIth a smile and a nod, Eina disappeared from the counter to retrieve a map for him. She returned a minute later, folded paper in hand.
She spread the map across the count and tapped a pen at a point on the map labelled 'Tower of Babel'.
"We are here," she explained, before trailing her pen down one of the roads. "Up this road you'll find the Loki Familia, they're one of the most powerful Familia, in terms of both numbers and individual strength. If you're looking to get good support from strong Adventurers, Loki Familia is a great place to be."
Her pen shifted to another point on the map. "Here is the headquarters of the Freya Familia. They don't quite have the individual strength that Loki Familia has, but they have greater numbers and a greater influence. This is a great Familia to be in, but it's difficult to get in. Their Goddess only accepts those she finds beautiful, so it's never easy to make it in."
Another move of the pen. "Over here you can find the Hephaestus Familia. They're a craftsman Familia, but are often in need of materials that can only be attained in the Dungeon."
The pen moved again. "And here is the Ganesha Familia. Ganesha is the God of the Masses, and his Familia reflects that. He has by far the largest Familia, but has much lesser individual strength than Loki or Freya. If Loki and Freya don't allow you to join, I'd recommend joining Ganesha. With your experience, you'd be a shoo-in. However, they are rather busy with the Monsterfilia coming up, so it may be difficult to gain an audience with Ganesha himself to gain your Falna."
She lifted her pen from the paper and looked up at him. "If you can't join any of them, you can always ask around yourself, or you can come back and ask for me. I'd be happy to give you more recommendations."
Loki, Freya, Ganesha.
He'd never heard of these gods. That was worrying, but it was good information none-the-less. At the very least he recognised Hephaestus, though the God of the Forge had never extended a message to him, so he would likely err on the side of caution.
"Thank you, Miss Eina," he said sincerely. "You've been a great help."
The woman smiled. "Of course. I'm just doing my job."
He gave her a wry smile. "I have a feeling you've done quite a bit more than that. I'll make sure to return your kindness in the future."
She flushed lightly. "You don't need to do that!"
"But I want to. You've done more for me than you know, and for that I thank you. I'll be going to try these Familia."
Eina huffed, cheeks still slightly red. "You're welcome. And good luck!"
Zagreus carefully folded up the map, and waded through the crowd to exit the building. He reached the door and pushed it forward, ready to experience a new world.
Hello all.
I decided to buy Hades a little while ago and no-lifed it for a week, then found a disturbing lack of fanfiction for it, hence, this fic. I've also been a big fan of Danmachi for a number of years, and loved the fanfiction it has, so this is my contribution; I hope it can live up to how incredible some of the other are. I've been writing this for a little while as I'm struggling with writers block for Jaune in the Machine, so I'm currently about half way through the fifth chapter.
My editor, Shocks, has had a glance through, but hasn't had time to edit it properly yet, so apologies for any errors.
That's all really. Twitter and Discord are on my profile if you're interested.