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[getthehellouttahell]

"Well, let's see. In the name of Hades, I accept this message!"
. . .
"Ugh, no, that was too formal."
. . .
"This is Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld. Sorry you missed me.
If I return to this hell hole, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can."

{ Calls ◊ Texts ◊ Logs }

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[getthehellouttahell]

Zagreus pulled one arm across his chest and tugged at his shoulder, stretching the muscle a few times before repeating it with the other one. Limbering up for the next run while he listened to Anubis talk. "So... people leave your underworld?" That's what he got out of the whole reincarnation bit. The idea of the shades down here getting to go back up to the surface and live another life was pretty strange. How did "new" people get created then if everyone was just getting recycled? It was confusing to him and he didn't really try to focus on it much more than that. Dropping his arms, Zagreus headed for the large mirror on the other side of the room.

He found himself gazing into th depths, but had to look over his shoulder to see Anubis again, since the mirror didn't do much in the way of reflecting. Well, physical reflection. Wasn't that kind of mirror. "I see. Sounds like you've got quite the family tree." He'd never heard of a Goddess of Mourning in either the Underworld or the Olympians, but then again, he didn't know a vast majority of his extended family, so who was to say she wasn't out there somewhere? As Anubis trailed off to his own thoughts, Zagreus returned his focus on the Mirror of Night. With the Darkness he collected in that last run, there should be something in here he could bolster for the next one.

It took a while, but finally he broke from the trance, a soft purple pulse radiating off his body, and then it was done. Stepping away, Zagreus headed to his desk for a quick check in, listening to Anubis explain again. "Are you sure you can summon your dead into ours? You said the Duat and the Underworld aren't the same." Which was a little strange to get his head around, but it made some sense. Even if it meant there was some larger clashing between different pantheons all carving out pieces of life, mortals, and death. If Anubis was trying to assist him without getting noticed, Zagreus wasn't sure ripping open small inter-afterlife portals was a good way of doing that. "Unless you want to try and control some of shades down here. There's plenty of monsters and wretches getting in my way." Zagreus appreciated the offer to help, but he was getting the idea Anubis hadn't really understood how things worked in Hades before jumping in.

Not that he was one to talk about running headlong into something without taking the time to understand it. That was common for him.

The next bit got a blink and Zagreus' expression went from surprised to mildly disgusted to kind of amused. "I... well... okay. That's pretty specific." He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling a little awkwardly. "I don't think you'll have to recreate mine or anything. Can't say it's ever been ripped off though..." He didn't want to put that to the test either. Still, the offer of healing got a grin and Zagreus nodded in agreement. "Hey, I can revive myself three times out there before falling. If you want to make it four, that's one of the best things you could do!"

[inuthings]

“Of course, it’s not positional. I can summon the dead in the mortal word too. Though I suppose I could try to manipulate the dead of your world. That could be interesting, shouldn’t be difficult either. The dead respond to us regardless of their pantheon. There are after all of course those that don’t believe in any religion, and just like everyone else they must go somewhere after death.” Manipulating them too would make it even harder for Osiris to tell if he was involved. The magic used to do that was far less than cross summoning warriors from the Duat.

At the same time it would keep him out of the line of fire too. Turning the monsters on each other would open up room for Zagreus to fight the other ones, making the fight upward easier. It was a fairly good plan, he just wondered how many times they were going to lose before they finally managed to win. He wasn’t naive, it wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought. Even with his help fighting through the Underworld wasn’t even something Anubis would do. There was a reason people didn’t get out of here, after all. If it wasn’t because of Cerberus it was because of Hades himself. He wasn’t one to be taken lightly.

Anubis didn’t doubt Zagreus or his own abilities, he just understood the lengths that Hades goes to protect the Underworld, they do the same for the Duat. He was intimately familiar with how these things went.

“I do appreciate you being willing to help me save Ammut.” Standing up straighter he tucked his hand behind his back, holding the crook in both of them. “If there is anything else that I can do for you I will try my best. Though the limit of what I’ll be able to do will depend on how easy it would be for Hades to detect me. I’m sure he already knows I’m here, as long as his—workers informed him that I was here.” He glanced briefly to the side, where the door to the God’s office was.

He would be informing Zeus of the man's reluctance to help me. It doesn’t reflect well on the Underworld or the Greek Gods in general to ignore the dire need of the Egyptian’s. The Duat doesn’t run without Ammut, which affects the balance of the world overall. No one wants that, especially the Fates. He returns his gaze to the Prince and inclines his head. “Are you curious about anything? I can try to answer some of your questions, it might be better to know what you’ll be waking into up there.” It would also give him a way to talk to the other without feeling uncomfortable.

[getthehellouttahell]

"Oh! That's rather helpful then. Don't suppose that's entirely smiled upon, but I'm not turning it down. This place could use some shake up." Even beyond what he's putting all the Underworld through. Why not summon the dead as well? The keyword here was 'try' but he had a feeling Anubis wouldn't be too hardpressed to make it happen. While he wasn't completely sure those words were true, the between pantheon dead manipulation, it wasn't like he had any arguments against it. (He'd have to ask Thanatos. Maybe they'd run into him out there?)

Redirecting the shades and monsters to fight each other would definitely be a really big help on his way out! The less attention on him, the easier to sneak attack or simply slip by and avoid battle if at all possible. Besides, in this place where fighting and violence among the more unruly of the denizens, was it really such a stir to see a bunch of them attack each other? Well, maybe, considering most of them went after him but whatever. It was a better plan regardless.

As for how many times it would take them... Zagreus had no way of knowing, but he didn't care. As many times as it takes. That was his answer to that question. No matter what or who stood in his way, he was getting out of this place and finding his mother. And apparently a strange Egyptian chimera friend as well, so there's that.

"You're helping me escape; it's the least I can do," Zagreus offered. "There's someone I have to find up there as well." He didn't even know where to start looking for his mother, but would it really hurt to start at one of Hades' temples? One place was as good as another as long as he started somewhere and didn't get overwhelmed with the scope of his search. "If Father already knows you're here, then I don't think you'll be hiding much from him. He's usually watching me during my escapes anyways. If you can go invisible, you might want to." How else did the god know when Zagreus was breaking into his treasure chests and where to sic an extra set of difficult monsters on him?

The young god merely shrugged at the notion of "reflecting well" when it came to his family. "I don't think that matters much. I never even knew your pantheon existed until now." Who knew how many others were aware. "Besides, my father's never been one to help outside the Underworld. He refuses to even talk to my Uncle, so why would he care to help you?" Zagreus was aware of balances, but nothing detailed about it except for certain people wanting to keep "balance" going. Wasn't his problem right now. As for questions...

"Depends on what you can tell me about the world up there. I've never been."