Zagreus and the Moon Elf Goddess moved through the Cloud Sea, hiding beneath the battle ongoing above the skies. It seemed that just as Fate had said, the Cloud Sea's turbulent winds and energies made for a good way to hide their presences from the monsters above. Unless one of them were to fully focus into the sea alone, it would be near impossible to be spotted. "I can sense someone over there, Zagreus...!" The Moon Elf goddess muttered. "Let's go!" Zagreus nodded, as the two rushed through the clouds.
They suddenly saw two silhouettes within the cloud sea, they had very faint presences, so they quickly rushed to see who they were.
After closer inspection, they were the Sun Monkey siblings, their red fur was unmistakably theirs, there was one holding the other, while crying.
"There they are! Hey!" The Moon Elf Goddess became slightly happier, rushing towards them.
"Wait, calm down! Don't rush!" Zagreus managed to grab her before she was to rush there. His eyes slightly shocked, as he had already realized what had happened there...
"S-Sister...! Sister, hey! Wake... wake up please! Sister!"
The Sun Monkey Gods were two twins, the male twin, a bit larger than his sister, was holding her body... half of her body, from her torso below, was missing.
Her eyes were dry, without blinking, and her blood had already dried, her wound seemed burned by whatever explosion hit them by accident.
"I-Is she... is she dead?" The Moon Elf Goddess asked. "Zagreus, you're a God of the Underworld, right? Your father was Hades...!"
"..." Zagreus remained in silence for a moment. "I can't feel her soul... She died. Although Gods of our Realm can survive even without a head, when we take enough damage to have our divine power drained away or destroyed, we can easily die..."
"S-Shut up!" The Sun Monkey brother screamed while crying. "Bring her back, Zagreus! You're the god of the underworld, right?! Please bring back her soul!"
"I-I am not like my father!" Zagreus muttered with frustration. "I-I... My divinity isn't even about manipulating Souls..."
"B-But...!"
"For now, place her inside your Divine Realm, we have to hurry," said Zagreus. "Maybe... if you come to Tartarus... With my sisters, we could try something. But I cannot guarantee you anything."
"Z-Zagreus...! Thanks..." the Sun Monkey god muttered, cleaning his tears and putting his sister inside his Divine Realm. "My name... I guess I never said it, right? I am Hanshuan, my sister was Henshian. We are... I guess you already guessed, we are Sun Monkey Twin Gods. We were born the same day, and blessed by the Sun."
"I see... It's nice to know your name, Hanshuan..." Zagreus forced slight smile, although Hanshuan could tell the pain in the young god's face, still mourning his father.
"What happened to your father... I'm very sorry..." Hanshuan muttered. "I felt so powerless back then, even more now... I-I..."
"It's alright," Zagreus said, trying to stay calm, to be more like his father. "We have to get out of here and survive, Hanshuan. Our mission was accomplished. Let's find the other goddess."
"A-Ah, yes!" Hanshuan nodded.
"My name is Sindarin... I am the Goddess of the Moonlight Dew," muttered Sindarin. "I-I guess you didn't know but I can conjure healing elixir from my hands, it is the Moonlight Dew I accumulate by absorbing the moonlight. Please let me heal you."
"C-Can't you heal your wound?" Hanshuan wondered, worried.
"No, it doesn't work on me or anybody else in the moon... I used to be called a useless goddess because of that, but..."
FLAAASH!
Her dew dropped from her hands, as Zagreus and Hanshuan gasped, their wounds healed rapidly within mere seconds.
"I volunteered to this mission because I thought I might finally be of some use..." She muttered. "I'm glad it worked... I'm relieved my power... is not truly useless."
"It's incredible, this rate of healing...!" Zagreus was shocked.
"M-My wounds are healed too!" Hanshuan looked at his stomach and shoulders; they were now completely fine.
"We have to hurry... The Moon Moth Goddess you saw with me is my friend, Glimmerdust. She's the Moon Moth Goddess of the Moon's Shadows. I think she might be alive, she's good at surviving," Sindarin said.
The trio quickly rushed through the Cloud Sea, trying to seek Glimmerdust's presence, Sindarin was able to detect her very deep under the sea, where the wind pressures were
immense.
"She must've gone there to hide, she's... she sometimes falls into an extreme state of panic..." Sindarin muttered. "And usually hides for days until the problem is solved."
"R-Really?" Zagreus muttered.
"She doesn't seem fit for the battlefield..." Hanshuan was more ruthless with his words.
"I-I know..." Sindarin sighed. "But she also volunteered for this mission because she wanted to be useful, like me... The Moon is overly populated, there's thousands of gods you see. Because there's so many of us, the divinities have become more and more contrived and strange; no god can have the same divinity after all. Eventually, gods with strange, weak divinities like us were born."
"Something similar is going on in the Sun as well... This mission, the Supremes couldn't really force anybody, so they only took those that volunteered. Me and my sister volunteered because we wanted to finally earn some honor and resources," Hanshuan muttered. "If things continued as they were, we would soon become Fallen Gods once we were unable to sustain our Divinities with the required resources... Despite being so huge, the Sun is also a fierce battlefield full of competition, gods like us can barely fit. Escaping wasn't an option either, the Astral Road has become too chaotic now."
"Hm..." Zagreus nodded. "I'm sorry for your sister..."
"T-Thanks..." Hanshuan sighed.
Zagreus slowly learned about the perspectives of other gods, which he had never considered before at all, he realized everyone had their own problems, their own traumas, and their own self-doubt, and he felt more connected with them, because he also went through similar
things they did.
"T-There! Glimmerdust! It's me!"
Sindarin screamed at a large cocoon shaped as silver shadows, hiding in between several thick
white clouds.
The cocoon slowly shook, as a pair of big moth eyes appeared within.
"S-Sindarin?"
"It's me! Yeah! I'm so glad you're alive!"
Sindarin rushed towards Glimmerdust, as Zagreus smiled. After they regrouped, they would have to quickly move to the nearby coordinates to be teleported away.
Whatever happened to the other teams wasn't his problem anymore, they had done more than
enough and...
RUMBLE!
"Ungh?!"
Zagreus, however, felt a tremendous pressure the moment he started to relax about his problems, realizing something gigantic was rushing down towards them.
"S-Sindarin! Glimmerdust! RUN AWAY FROM THERE!"
"E-Eh?"
Sindarin looked back at Zagreus, a second before a gigantic figure rushed down towards them.
Zagreus immediately recognized that it was a demon!
They found them somehow!
"N-No...! I don't want to lose more allies! Please...! No more!"
Zagreus screamed, as he rushed towards them as quickly as he could.
"NO MORE!"
As he cried and saw the demon's claws rushing towards the goddesses...
RUMBLE!
A wave of phantasmal energies emerged from his body, encompassing him completely like an
armor, his hands suddenly stretched, grabbing both girls and pulling them back, a second
before they were to get shredded to pieces.
BOOOM!
An explosive shockwave of demonic flames was unleashed from the area where the demon
landed, as he glanced at Zagreus while smiling with his multiple heads.
"Oh?! You must be the son of Hades, right?"
