Chapter 120 – Big Bro Zag

Projecting herself into the seal of Nuwa’s soul, Nyx drops by for a visit. The soulscape is a strange place where imagination, willpower, and soul force trump over all other forms of physics and other scientific concepts. Nuwa, who has been thoroughly sealed within her soul, feels like she’s trapped, so when Nyx visits, she sees Nuwa’s naked adult body from the Avatar Record struggling while tied up with the darkness tendrils looking like full bondage gear.

Her nipples are fully erect and her boobs are occasionally squished by the ropes. The Darkness tendrils snakes over her pussy causing her to whimper slightly with arousal, but their purpose is only to seal and not penetrate. Even when thoroughly captured, Nuwa knows how to have fun. Nyx frowns imperceptibly at walking in on her captive attempting to masturbate, but continues nonchalantly, “Hello. What’s your name, Daoist friend?”

Nuwa looks up at Nyx and feels a mix of bitterness, horror, and worship. Never has she felt so powerless in front of someone else. Chaos just plopped her there and all of a sudden she was discovered and sealed. She has neither her [System] to seek advice from, nor E-Nuwa to help think her way out of the situation. The Dao String is pretending it’s dead. Clearly, Nuwavatar is not interested in confronting Nyx. She has her soulbound items and [Smartphone], but she’s too busy wallowing in self-pity to put aside her shattered pride and check if she received [System]’s reward of being able to send messages to former Records.

At the same time, Nyx is the most powerful woman she’s ever met! She’s everything that Nuwa aspires towards! A woman who can do whatever she wants! Love whoever she wants! Live as long as she wants without having to leave her home! Ironically, she doesn’t feel jealous because all of Nyx’s mannerisms, words, and actions are as comforting as the moment she puts on a heated blanket after lying down on a memory foam mattress on a cold day.

She hesitantly said, “Nuwa.” like she did something wrong, even though she did not. Well, she did get caught masturbating. The setting changes with her mood and she’s now sitting on a low stool, with conservative clothes made entirely of Darkness, looking up at Nyx. She’s got to be on her best behavior in front of who she assumes is her mother/jailor.

Nyx smiles comfortingly and says, “I don’t mind, child. Feel free to be yourself.”

Letting out a sigh of relief and feeling instinctual trust in her mother, Nuwa relaxes and her clothes fade away into her default small black minidress of Darkness. It’s still sealing her, but with Nyx right next to her, she doesn’t feel that bad about it.

She begins, “Chaos is not the type to explain things, so I will elucidate matters for you. My name is Nyx and I am the Goddess of the Night. You can call me Mother Nyx if you’d like. You are the first daughter of Hades and his second child. Your birth mother, Medusa, should have died giving birth to you, but Chaos saved her and repaired her soul into a weaker form. She goes by Maid Dusa now.

“You have an older brother named Zagreus. We live deep in the Underworld in a place called the House of Hades. It’s a truly endearing place, once you get used to the shades and how affectionate Cerberus can be. I have sealed you because your Father and brother want a little girl with a clean slate for a soul. Your Father surely expects me to do more, maybe even erase who you were entirely, but fear not. I will protect you when the time comes for you to be unsealed. He wouldn’t dare take action if you are protected by me, however much he complains.”

Nuwa looks up at Nyx with confusion and deep gratitude. With dread at the fate that could have been, she asks, “Why..?”

Nyx approaches Nuwa’s trembling form and pats her head softly. “You have a greater purpose far beyond this realm. That I know, but I sense that you are lost, child. Your resolve wavers, does it not? Even when you love, it is half-hearted. You have made some progress on synchronizing your Dao Core, but you will never complete it as you are now.”

Feeling her deepest worries and concerns dug out by Nyx, Nuwa doesn’t feel a shred of resentment. She bursts into tears and hugs her tightly asking, “What do I do, mother? I’m trying.. But I don’t understand!”

Hugging her back, Nyx soothingly comforts Nuwa, “Fret not and sleep, child. All will be clear in time.”

With another injection of Darkness, Nuwa’s soul falls asleep. Nyx fashions the area of her seal into a princess’ bedchamber complete with a black canopy bed before kissing her foster daughter’s forehead and leaving. When Nyx takes responsibility for a child, she is never stingy with affection or resources.

[Two years later]

“Big bro Zag, big bro Zag! Up, shades!”

A rambunctious little grey-skinned toddler with orange eyes and two sharp baby canines poking out of her upper jaw to form an overbite raises her arms and asks her favorite brother to lift her up and take her around the complex. Zagreus finds the task itself utterly boring, but there’s nothing he enjoys more than seeing his baby sister Nuwa laugh and smile. Her cheerful laughter even manages to lighten up the ever-scowling temperament of their Father. It is the only thing that can.

‘When the day comes that Father’s mood improves after seeing me, I’ll probably be preparing for the collapse of Tartarus. On a more serious note, I wonder why Father treats me so poorly in comparison to my sister. Is it really because fathers are tougher on sons like Achilles says or that I’m bad at paperwork like Than says? Somehow I feel that neither of those are the case. Even before I was expected to do paperwork, I remember his mood worsening in my presence. Oh well, I’ll figure it out when I figure it out.’

“Up ya go!” Zagreus picks up little Nuwa and sits her so that each of her legs is dangling on either side of his neck. Nuwa’s hair-snakes hiss with joy as they bite fanglessly at Zagreus’ face and hair. “Ahaha, yay!”

Zagreus walks them over from the room they share into the hallway. Neither of their bodies need to eat or excrete food, so Nuwa rarely makes trouble, other than breaking some fragile objects now and then. Everything important is placed within barriers, so it’s minor damage at most.

Nyx gave Zagreus the responsibility to take care of Nuwa since he always bungles the paperwork. Hades still wanted Zagreus to be forced to do paperwork and he secretly doesn’t mind looking after Nuwa since he finds her adorable, so he complained, but Nyx wanted Zagreus to learn responsibility. Despite Zagreus being his son and not Nyx’s, Hades knows that she’s a far better parent than he, so he relents.

Zagreus is one-fourth mortal, where he acquired most of his looks from. He has white skin and full heterochromia, with one of his eyes being red and one being green. It has become obvious that he is different from the rest of those who dwell in the House of Hades, including his sister. Every time Hades sees that green eye, he’s reminded of the betrayal he felt when his lover left him to return to the Surface. Now he has to tolerate that damn boy monopolizing his daughter’s attention! It is absolutely infuriating!

Seeing Zagreus pass by his desk/throne playing with Nuwa so happily makes Hades involuntarily slam both hands on his desk. The resulting impact shakes the entire room, silencing everyone and causing Cerberus to jump in panic. The old desk lives up to its task as a well-made artifact crafted by Daedalus and withstands the force without so much as a creak. The thousands of pieces of paper stacked up on the desk only jump slightly before returning to their places.

Zagreus and Nuwa turn to look at their Father in silence and some degree of fear. Elegantly floating down the hall from the lounge upon hearing the commotion, Nyx stands by to offer moral support to the kids. Hades snorts and says, “You, boy, are disturbing my work! Nuwa, tell your brother not to be so bothersome!”

Shrinking and looking like she’s about to cry, Nuwa repeats softly, “Big Bro Zag.. d-don’t be-”

Nyx interrupts the proceedings, “Hush now, child. I’ll have a word with your Father. Go on and play.”

Zagreus looks at his Father with defiance and anger from behind his Mother and stomps over to Achilles with Nuwa still on his back. ‘Yea, punching bag Zag over here. Just walking by without saying a word and I’m disturbing things. Bah!’

Nuwa curls up onto Zagreus’ face and wraps her hair-snakes tightly around him. She doesn’t like it when daddy yells at Big Bro Zag. Her hair-snakes display her full range of emotions, so even though she’s not crying, about a third of them start crying. Zagreus sighs and pulls the snakes that are in front of his eyes down far enough that he can see where he’s walking and he continues to where Achilles is standing down the hall. Booming shouts from Hades followed by soft replies from Nyx can be heard behind them.

“Hello, lad and lassie.” says Achilles with noticeable affection. Achilles was a demi-god Hero of wide renown in Greece and remains a celebrated Hero even after his death. He is a handsome man with a height of 2m (6.5 ft), blonde locks, green robes, and a spear in hand. In exchange for Hades allowing his lover to reside in Elysium, the most comfortable place for the dead in the Underworld, he serves the House of Hades as a retainer, instructing Zagreus in combat and military discipline.

“You alright, lad? You know your Father doesn’t mean it. He lets his temper get the better of him. He cares for you in his own way. And lassie, quit those waterworks. Can’t you see you’re getting your brother all wet?”

Nuwa sniffs unwraps her hair-snakies from Big Bro Zag’s face to hold them in her hands. Zagreus holds her feet to make sure she’s still balanced, and says bitterly, “It can’t kill him to show some love. He’s exempt from death after all, but he doesn’t, does he?”

With a few pats on Zagreus’ shoulder, Achilles says, “He’ll come around. Gods are a stubborn prideful bunch. You’ll have to be patient. Just come running to Nyx or I if something comes up. What did I tell you last lesson?”

Zagreus hardens his eyes and says, “Fear is for the weak and the pain of death is but another obstacle.”

“Right you are, lad. Go play now. See you around, lassie.”

Looking back at Achilles, Zagreus bows slightly and says, “Thanks, sir.”

Nuwa mimics from atop his head with an adorable smile, easily forgetting the earlier scare, “Fanks, sir.”

Achilles nods them off and chuckles as he sees Zagreus visibly cheer up when he hears Nuwa’s cute voice.

Nuwa points at a crowd of shades excitedly and her Big Bro Zag brings her over. Shades are the souls of mortals that automatically descend to the Underworld for processing after death. Hades is responsible for evaluating the sins of each shade and the degree of punishment or reward they deserve during their stay in the Underworld. Each shade fades away when it loses its identity and returns to the cycle of reincarnation. Even one of the strongest shades, Achilles, will fade if he loses his identity, though it may take hundreds of thousands of years.

Most mortals have t1 souls and end up in the Underworld as green ghost-like shades. There are three layers to the Underworld. Shades who are sinners are sent to the bottom layer, Tartarus, a labyrinthian maze reminiscent of a prison, just outside the House of Hades. The greatest of mortals, upon becoming shades, are sent to the upper layer, Elysium, a resort area of flowing greenery, lush rivers, and opulent decorations. Shades who are in the middle end up in the middle layer, the plains of Asphodel, which unfortunately are currently flooded frequently by the lava river of Phlegethon. Containing the river and restoring the green plains is a monumental task that the House of Hades will have to herd the shades to work on for centuries until they are fixed. For the time being, shades in the middle layer will simply have to suffer the heat.

These shades in the House of Hades are simply floating around waiting to be judged. Their usual activities are talking amongst each other about their lives as mortals, cowering from the captors who have the right to punish them at will, and otherwise shooting the shit with each other. Almost all normal shades look the same with very few differences in the green ghastly shape that they take.

Zagreus goes to the shade Nuwa pointed at and it begins to cower and sweat, despite its lack of sweat glands. He asks, “How did you die?”

The shade looks nervously at the godlings and says, “Um..umm.. I accidentally bit my finger off and choked on it.”

“Bahahahaha!” baby Nuwa laughs out loud with joy. “You stoopid!”

The other three shades nearby laugh nervously and offer their own idiotic causes of death to appease the young masters.

“I tried to jump off my house to prove I could fly!”

“I kicked my neighbor’s dog since it was making too much noise, but I got my neck bit off. Hah!”

“Heh, yall got nothing on me. My wife pegged me with too big of a dildo.”

All the shades and Zagreus look over at the last shade and float/scootch a few feet away as they say, “Fuck off! Wtf! C’mon, man there’s a baby here.”

Zagreus pulls a red stamp out of his pocket and sticks it on the incorporeal form of the shade. That signifies the shade is his friend, which his Father will definitely get mad at, and hopefully lead him to sentence the shade to the place in Asphodel for the dumbest of idiots.

‘Yep, all in a day’s work.’ Zagreus sighs at how hard his life is.

Nuwa looks down at Zag’s head and her hair-snakies also curl around to look directly at his eyes. “Big Bro Zag, what’s pegging?”

Zagreus sighs again.

(A/N: Heads up that Nuwa’s main personality will be taking a long nap, guys. I’ll be focusing on Zagreus and Azula’s development for quite some time.)