[The breath he releases only seems to leave weight in his chest. He breathes in again, and the weight is still there, suffocating. He sits there, eyes trained on the device's screen as though entranced, reading the words that the slayer of men had sent—
—He gets up, so fast that he frightens the man resting on a crate near him at the pier. He doesn't apologize.
Not this time. He paces two steps to one side and another to the opposite. Stops. A foot lands on a small splash of water on the wooden surface, and it fizzles into vapor under his sole. Zagreus doesn't notice. He looks at the device in his hand and reads the words again. Ares knows of his bond to the Underworld, how the Styx shortens the conversations with his mother.
Why he can't join them on Olympus.
A sliver of ire flares bright and wide in Zagreus' sight, eats away at the weight is his lungs, adds to the fuel of all the frustration of being stuck here. He wants to tear his teeth apart in a yell. He's sick with so many questions in his mind.
Were the Olympians who brought him here? Is this their punishment for tricking them?
1/2 (I'm sorry for this, this is supposed to be a tiny text thread....)
—He gets up, so fast that he frightens the man resting on a crate near him at the pier. He doesn't apologize.
Not this time. He paces two steps to one side and another to the opposite. Stops. A foot lands on a small splash of water on the wooden surface, and it fizzles into vapor under his sole. Zagreus doesn't notice. He looks at the device in his hand and reads the words again. Ares knows of his bond to the Underworld, how the Styx shortens the conversations with his mother.
Why he can't join them on Olympus.
A sliver of ire flares bright and wide in Zagreus' sight, eats away at the weight is his lungs, adds to the fuel of all the frustration of being stuck here. He wants to tear his teeth apart in a yell. He's sick with so many questions in his mind.
Were the Olympians who brought him here? Is this their punishment for tricking them?
Who must he—]