81: Butterflies
Once again, Zagreus died.
But this time he was able to spend hours with his mother, three hours to be exact, he was happy to be able to spend so much time with her and Zagreus has to thank Klein for it, but a word isn't enough and he wants to give a gift to him but he doesn't know what would be good enough to give as a gift besides Nectar and Ambrosia, maybe one of the jewels in his father's chambers? His father has so many riches in the Underworld that he wouldn't even see one of his rings or even gems gone, and he surely would not notice if one hundred or more drachmas were gone from his vault.
Well, he is the prince, so he can technically take whatever he wants... Right? But he doesn't want to die, he will be reborn within the pool of blood in the depths of the Halls of Hades like everyone connected to it is, but he will probably be tortured and then killed by one of the Furies as a punishment and he doesn't want to deal with Maegara. He sighed and got up from his bed and left his chambers to try and enter his father's vaults. It was easy enough for him to do so, and his father never knew... Or knew but let him do whatever he pleased. Regardless of what his father knew or didn't, he wanted to give the man that helped him so much a gift and all he could think that would be useful or delightful is a bottle of Nectar or something for use, like a ring or even a blanket.
Zagreus was able to easily enter the vaults of his father, the mountains of golden coins spread through the chamber were magnificent and anyone would be greedy at the sight of such richness. Zagreus approached a random pile of richness and began to search through it to see if he could find something good enough for a gift, he searched and found a lot of good things but none he could give as a gift that he thought would be suitable or at least his style.
After a few minutes that felt like hours, Zagreus finally found something that he thought was good for Klein. A sword, a simple golden sword that looked to be good enough as a gift, was balanced and sharp, and also had a neat little red gem imbued to the center of the hilt, looked to be fancy enough and usable enough. He quickly left the place with the sword in his hands, now he just needs to protect this gift, cross through Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and Styx to leave the Underworld and then visit his mother and hopefully deliver this gift to him. Zagreus doesn't give up, that word is not in his dictionary, he knows that he can do it because he has done it before!
Zagreus quickly left the Vaults of Hades a little too much excited to leave the Underworld, Hades, who received the news that his son was on the move, sighed deeply and continued to look through his papers and hear the voice of Orpheus as he sang and composed a new song.
-Scene Cut-
With a gasp for air, Zagreus smiled as he quickly ran out of the Underworld, going to see his mother. The excitement was there as he approached the Hidden Gardens of Persephone (and Klein), which made him smile... But soon he paused, surprised to see the new addition to the place... A house.
Don't get him wrong, there were two houses in this place before but now there is only one and is better than the other two combined! Zagreus slowly went to the door and knocked, he waited till no one appeared, he gasped and grabbed his chest as pain made his muscles tense, his skin was turning pale as his Lifeforce was leaving his body. He decided to look at the back, and soon enough he saw them there, but... Oh no. Zagreus sprung into action, braided his blade, and attacked those foul insects, there were too many of them and he was sure he would die, at least his mother and Klein wouldn't... Right? However, when the butterfly touched his body, he didn't feel the pain of the damage nor the sweat relief of death...
He opened his eyes to see Persephone looking at him with a slightly confused face while Klein just stared, without expression. Zagreus looked at his body and saw that he was fine, looking around he could see the corpses of those foul creatures... They were dead. Zagreus poked one with his sword and frowned when it didn't react. "Zagreus, my son, what happened?" Persephone asked with a small and gentle smile, Klein just approached him and offered his hand, which Zagreus took just to feel calm as his body stopped dying. He soon realized what he was doing, he awkwardly held his hand behind his head and smiled weakly: "Hehehe..." He forced a chuckle before sighing. He decided to explain why he acted like that and not make more of a fool of himself.
Persephone began to explain a little more about the world and that not everything here wanted to kill him, although some wanted and could. Zagreus focused on listening to his mother while Klein bent over and began to manipulate the corpses of the butterflies, Zagreus soon grew curious as to how he was doing it, but he associated that with the fact that he is a God, and Zagreus is not a God. He said so, he doesn't know what he is the God of and even says he is the God of Nothing. Achilles thinks he is the God of Blood, and therefore the God of Life, but he doesn't think he is the God of Life.
"Oh, I remember." Zagreus took the sword out of the cloth wraps and gave it to Klein with one hand, Klein looked at the sword Zagreus was giving, and although Zagreus couldn't see his expression change he could tell Klein was curious about the sword by the way he focused his attention on it. "It's a gift, as a thank you, for helping me and my mother speak to each other for more than a few seconds." Klein locked eyes with Zagreus, and for the first time, Zagreus saw the emotion in Klein's face as he smiled, not a cold smile, but a genuinely happy smile. He was surprised to see the emotion in Klein's face, he was so shocked he forgot to look away and saw Klein's face return to coldness as if nothing happened...
Zagreus found it intriguing and somewhat blinding... Handsomely blinding.