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Zagreus walks out of the pool of Styx, still feeling the burns from the last run. He wasn’t so lucky last time, he used up a death defy on Lernie. Sure, he could’ve probably just gotten one back, he had the obol, he hadn’t used Athena’s keepsake yet, he probably would’ve encountered Patroclus.
But he didn’t. He’d claimed his reward, then stood in the nearby magma, letting it eat away at his health. It wasn’t a good build anyway. He probably would have died to Theseus, even Asterius, or been poisoned in Styx, or killed by his father. It would’ve been pointless to continue anyway.
He approached Hypnos, who abruptly woke up.
“Magma again, huh?”
“Yeah, it hurts a lot more than you think. So many enemies like to stand in it, or worse, float above it. They’re hard to hit without getting burned.”
“My brother told me that you almost never get burned by it, but a third of your recent deaths have been from it. You’ve been dying recently in a lot of ways that you’ve never died before, from bombs, numbskulls, witches. What’s going on?”
“Uhhhh… I haven’t been feeling great recently. I thought it was bad luck, but it kept happening.”
“You’re part mortal, right? Have you tried eating enough?”
“I eat lots of pomegranates during my runs. Eurydice also insists on making me eat whenever I encounter her. That can’t be it.”
“Have you slept recently?”
“I’ve slept since I started my escape attempts.”
“That was twice in the first thirty. You’re at over two hundred now. That’s waaay too long.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to?”
“No.”
“Dang it. Well, back to my main point, that is too many early failures. Are you really trying at this point, or are you dying on purpose?”
“Uhhhh.. kinda?”
“Zagreus.”
“Huh?”
“Are you dying on purpose?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t really had any motivation recently. I don’t really have anything to achieve anymore. Mom’s back home, I’m friends with almost everyone I want to be friends with, anything else I could do is too difficult to do.”
“Uhhhhh…… I’m not really sure how to deal with all that, sooo… try sleeping?”
“Fine, I’ll try.”
“Good. See you!”
And so Zagreus left, retreating to his chambers. It was a while before anyone saw him again. Hypnos considered his goal somewhat accomplished, though his concern had increased tenfold. It was a relief when Zagreus next stepped out of the pool, having died to natural causes this time. Hypnos plotted his next move, in his plan to make Zagreus take care of himself.