“Mother.” Thanatos smiled warmly, crossing over to her and extending his arm. He wrapped it around her shoulders in a short, warm embrace before kissing her cheek respectfully. “I thought I might find you here.”
“You thought you would find me in an unnamed grove in Asphodel? Really?” Nyx raised an eyebrow at her son. “You betray yourself. Be honest.” Thanatos didn’t blush but simply tilted his head to the side, nodding once in defeat as his smile dropped.
“I’ve sensed the disruption between you and father. We all have. Whatever argument you just came from nearly broke the mortal world in half.” Nyx’s eyes went wide as she took a step back in shock. Thanatos never held a punch.
“We were… We were deep within Tartarus.” Nyx defended herself. “I never would have argued with your father like that if we thought it would affect…”
Thanatos held up a hand and cut her off. “I’m not concerned with it.” The smirk crossed his face once more. “It keeps me busy.”
Nyx sucked her teeth once and looked at her son with a chiding expression. “What an awful thing to say.” Thanatos’s expression was unrepentant.
“It’s true. Who cares?”
Nyx fought the urge to roll her eyes as she collected herself. “Was that what you came to tell me, then?”
“No. There was a moment today… briefly…” Thanatos struggled with his words, something that Nyx had never seen before. “Where the bells called for you, and you were on my list. I came straight here to see if you were okay. You are my mother, after all.” He smiled softly, devoid of any teasing or malice. Thanatos looked at Nyx more closely, seeing the confusion and exhaustion behind her eyes. Her power felt different… until he realized that it was because it was decoupled from Erebus’s.
Nyx found herself fighting back tears as she cursed her human body and the shock that was running through her. What could it mean that Death had almost come to collect her? The prophecy had only stated that it was certain if she fought with Zeus. Nyx quickly bottled up her questions and stared at her son, refusing to break in front of him.
“What, did you and Hypnos flip a coin?”
“No, he wanted to go see Father,” Thanatos deadpanned.
“Well. I am here. Your father is in Tartarus, presuming. He has… He has decided to join Zeus.” Nyx scanned her son’s faced for any reaction and was not surprised she didn’t see one. He didn’t react to much; he was too far removed from the mortal world, let alone the games of gods.
“This angers you?” Thanatos asked inquisitively, his tone genuine. Nyx nodded.
“I asked him not to.” Her voice was hardened and resolved but full of chaos and the remnants of her calcified heart. “He did it anyway. Then he had the nerve—” Nyx was cut off as Thanatos reached out and pulled her to him, tightening his arms around her once in a warm embrace. He let go only a moment later, pulling back and bracing his arms on his mother’s shoulders.
“You’ll figure it out.” He sounded confident. There was a glimmer in his nearly black eyes that was undetectable. Nyx looked at him in surprise, and he only shrugged once more, taking a step back. She could hear the bells in the distance that cried out for her son. Death stayed busy.
“You’re very certain of this.” Nyx studied him as if he hid the secret somewhere on his person, backing away to depart to the mortal realm once more.
“I know what death feels like. I know what it smells like.” Thanatos stopped, his voice going cold but somehow gentle in its resolution. “There is a part of you that has died, but it hasn’t won out yet.”
Nyx felt the blood leave her face as she stared after her son. “What does that mean?”
“It means, luckily, you aren’t on my list today.” Thanatos disappeared into the wind as the sound of bells grew louder and stopped altogether, the God of death swept up in his never-ending duties. Nyx almost screamed in frustration as she felt rage rising in her once more, faced once again with a problem she couldn’t solve and half-answers from those she trusted most.
Nyx’s power crested with each wave of anger that pulled at her limbs until she burst into the sky, ripping down the light with it. She was tired of crying. She was tired of being upset. She was tired of feeling afraid of the dark. All of Nyx’s powers began swirling through the skies of the Underworld, soaking up the clouds until dusk was painted across the horizon. She let herself expand… expand… expand… anchoring her essence into every crevice of the Underworld in a way that she had not allowed herself since her creation. The souls began shrieking in confusion as the Underworld was plunged into an eternal wave of black and purple magic.
Let there be night.
???
Erebus satin darkness until Hypnos roused him from it, pulling him back from the edge of the world. He watched a few hours later as the Underworld descended into night, feeling something churning in his stomach as he felt the sky change over to something else entirely. This was night, an eternal night, and there was nothing for him in it. He could sense from the way the power moved through the atmosphere that there was no call to him and no grace for his darkness. No, this was Nyx bringing about nightfall on her own, and it was clear that Erebus wasn’t invited.
There wasn’t a place for him in the Underworld, especially in this dusk that Nyx had created. Erebus made his way to the edge of Asphodel, following Styx all the way up to Charon’s crossing. Hypnos and Thanatos were the twins, and Charon was Nyx and Erebus’s youngest son.Youngestalways meant something entirely different to the immortals.
Charon was waiting at the edge of the pier, leaning against one of the wooden supports. He was the most solemn of them all, which was quite the accomplishment when your parents were the primordials of night and darkness, and your twin brothers were sleep and death. He wore a long, gray tunic, with hair that was curled like Erebus’s, and thick arms that were corded with muscle from the near-constant rowing. The edges of his tunic were always damp, and he never wore sandals. There was something blank permanently etched onto his face, even though Erebus knew that beneath it was a subtle kindness that calmed down each soul he encountered.
“Father.” Charon grinned, clapping his hands together in greeting.
Erebus went to return the embrace, when he stopped in his tracks at the edge of the pier. He watched as the waves crested behind Charon, who glanced over his shoulder at the commotion. There was a whirring of water that turned into a small cyclone above the surface, which deposited a very stoic looking Poseidon on the pier.
“I can’t say that I expected to see you here.” Erebus raised an eyebrow at Poseidon, taking a step towards him. “Although I guess you are never far from water.”
Charon looked like he was going to laugh but held it in, keeping a steady expression on his face as he studied Poseidon. The god ignored Charon entirely, sidestepping him and walking with urgency to close the gap between him and Erebus.
