"When I was still the naiad of the Styx, I was very caught up in the work that Hades and his employees, Thanatos and Charon, did. Looking back on it now, when you take into account that I resided in the river that Charon ferried the dead souls across, it isn't surprising. I was the head underworld nymph too, so you can imagine I knew a lot about the schedule of the underworld. One day, around the time I was supposed to be seeing Charon ferrying souls, I saw nothing but the regular promises flooding in that I'd have to keep track of to make sure were kept.

When I found the spare time, I went over to where Charon's boat usually was. There was a patch of land right next to it that was filled with new arrivals each day, and only a handful of them would actually even board the boat to the judging area. But when I went there, all I saw was Charon standing next to his boat and counting drachmas, and the regular few stuck-in-limbo souls with not a new arrival in sight. I asked him what had happened and he told me that

Thanatos had gone missing-."

"When was this?" Aionia interrupted. She was paying such close attention she was practically taking notes.

"Long ago. That's all I know, to be honest. After a while of being immortal, the passage of time doesn't really register anymore. Come to think of it, I can't even remember how old I am.."

"If it helps, I'm sixteen," Aionia added. Styx tilted her head.

"It doesn't, but thanks, I guess." Styx didn't mean for it to come across as bluntly as it did, but Aionia frowned anyways.

"Anyhow, back to the story. Thanatos had gone missing earlier that day. Since he was in charge of bringing the souls of the deceased back down here, none of the souls were leaving their bodies. Some were even escaping, if they had the guts or memory to do so. Charon told me that he was stationed at the main entrance/exit to keep the souls from escaping through there until further notice. I left and went to go see Hades, the main man himself.

His palace was in utter chaos, with a portion of his employees trying desperately to escape, and the other trying to get to them to stay. The usual neat and tidy area was a mess of drachmas, jewels, and bones. He and Persephone were trying restore the balance and organize everything, to no avail. I sent in a wave of the poisonous side of the Styx water to try to get everything under control, and washed away some of the escaping employees. Doing that, I also cleared myself a path to talk to the ruler of the underworld."

"Can you still control the Styx water even if you're not the naiad of it anymore?" Aionia asked once more.

"Can you maybe let me finish..?" Styx retorted, becoming increasingly more annoyed with every interrupting question. Aionia gave no response, which Styx took as an invitation to continue.

"I went up to him and asked him about, well, everything. He didn't respond for a while and then his face went all weird. He told me to stay in the Styx until I was summoned. I didn't know what it meant until I saw a charcoal blob above me in the water. I swam up, and found Charon on his boat staring down. 'You have been summoned.'" Styx made her voice go low and raspy for added effect.

"I swam beside him as he rowed his boat over in a familiar direction." Aionia felt her eyes growing heavy, like there were weights suddenly placed on them. Once she closed them, she saw the scene that Styx was describing.

The first thing Aionia couldn't help but notice was that Naiad-Styx was utterly gorgeous. She looked nothing like the Styx that she had seen in front of her a few moments ago, her only recognizable feature being her white, flowing hair. Her skin was the colour of ebony and had a slight purple tint to it, making Aionia wonder how her skin colour had changed so drastically. Her physique was slim but healthy, contrasting current Styx's almost bony appearance. Naiad-Styx's eyes looked normal, although her irises were a strange mix of purple and a green-tinted gray.

Though her facial features looked a little familiar, they looked like they belonged to her more than her current ones. She couldn't place what race they looked like they were from, but she knew it wasn't hers. Nonetheless, the naiad was beautiful, Aionia could see that clearly.

She swam alongside a man in a hooded robe much like the one Styx had worn. He seemed to be a either a) even paler than Styx, or b) literally just made of bones. When Aionia looked closer, she realized he really was made of just bones. Although he rowed the boat slowly, he somehow kept up the pace with Styx, who was swimming like she was in the Olympics.

Aionia noticed that they were approaching the patch of land that Styx had mentioned earlier. On the land stood a tall, tall man and woman, who both looked to be nine and eight feet tall respectively. Next to them was a boy who looked about Aionia's age, clutching his wrist with one hand and making a fist with the other. The man and woman were lavishly dressed, both covered in jewels and the woman with flowers that looked familiar to Aionia for some reason.

The boy was dressed in a simple black chiton that swung around one shoulder and left the other exposed. Aionia wondered if the boy was the man's son. They shared the same wavy black hair and deathly pale skin. When the boy looked up from staring at his wrists, Aionia was shocked to see he shared the same type of eyes that Styx now had, his eyes looking like glowing rings floating in pools of ink. Aionia couldn't help but think to herself that he looked kind of cute, too. What was with her and these demonic-looking people?

When the boat and Nymph-Styx arrived on the ground, the royal looking man motioned for Styx to come onto land, and she did so with no hesitation. The boy looked up to regard Styx, and she did so too, if only for a brief moment. Styx was dressed in only a ragged chiton that was torn and not nearly as fancy as even the boy's attire. She had a thin ring of silver around her head, almost like a crown. It seemed to be the most formal thing about her, considering her hair was a mess and her clothes were nothing but some rags. It seemed pretty clear to Aionia who held the most power in the group of people gathered on the little patch of land.

"My lord and lady," Styx bowed. The man waved for her to stop. She got up abruptly.

"Sir?" She asked, stealing a glance back the boy.

"There is no need for formalities, my naiad. This will be quick. Stand next to Thanatos." The man spoke in a deep and strict, but still somehow welcoming voice. Styx did as ordered, quickly shuffling to stand next to the boy, who looked up at her with his creepy eyes. Thanatos.. he was the one who went missing. The name was vaguely familiar to Aionia. Where had she heard it before?

The man spoke a few sentences in a language Aionia didn't know, but everyone in the scene seemed to understand. She watched as Styx and Thanatos turned to face each other and grabbed the other's wrists. They both closed their eyes reluctantly, and Aionia felt a strange shiver running through her body. When it finished, she felt her body twitch once on impulse. Aionia took the chance to steal a glance at what was happening with Styx, and saw she and Thanatos were reacting the same way she was. But instead of a twitch at the end, a glow began to emit from where their wrists were connected. The man was chanting the same word in the language she couldn't understand over and over, the more he chanted, the brighter the glow became.

The light became so bright that Aionia couldn't look. She covered her eyes with her arms and the glow became even stronger, and soon Aionia felt it was over. When she removed her arms from her face, there no longer stood two people facing each other, but one person with their arms outstretched in front of them. They slowly put them down, and Aionia could see their face clearly. It was Styx. But not the Styx that was holding Thanatos's wrists. It was the same Styx that was telling her the story right now. Aionia watched her form tremble and and shake, slowly changing into one she had never seen before. All she could make out from it was that it was vaguely masculine before her eyes shot open.

In front of her was no longer the Styx that was telling the story, but the masculine person she had seen her transform into. He looked like the complete opposite of the female Styx. Dark skin and short, inky hair. Normal eyes, just like Naiad-Styx's. He was wearing a white chiton much like Thanatos, and the hooded robe was back on, covering his shoulders.

"Styx..?" Aionia asked carefully. The man looked her over. It felt like he was staring into her soul.

"No." He said, getting up. He put the hood over his eyes. "I have more important duties to attend to." He turned around, the cape swooping over Aionia's face. She reached out to grab it, suddenly aware that Styx only healed one of her arms. She managed to get hold of it, but she couldn't hold on for long. It dragged her around for a second or two until she couldn't hold on any longer, her hand slipping from the silky black material.

Aionia watched as the dark space around her that kept Styx and her contained began to fade away as the man faded from view. Aionia realized she had been somehow teleported back into her room, and that the man was headed back to the room that her sister lay, still sick and helpless. Aionia scrambled off her bed as fast she could with one working arm, falling to her knees by accident and tripping on her chiton in the process.

She made it out of the doorway to find him exactly where Styx had stood before. Leaning over her sister. Aionia rushed to grab him away from her once more, grabbing hold of his hood and pulling it off his head once more. Instead of doing what Styx did however, he turned to her and hissed. He had a forked tongue and his eyes were glowing red. Aionia screamed and reeled back, an arm up to protect herself. But instead of attacking her further, he turned back to her sister.

Aionia realized that he did that only to scare her away, and it and worked. She came closer to him once more, prepared for him to hiss again. Even if he hadn't directly attacked her yet, he was much more hostile than Styx. To deal with him, Aionia would have to go a step higher. She knew that she could hurt and control Styx by touching her and burning her. Would it work on him? Aionia realized that soon he would start disappearing like Styx did before, and knew she didn't have much time to act or think about her actions.

Aionia grabbed his wrist. To her disappointment, she didn't feel any numbness spreading throughout, meaning that he couldn't feel anything either. Nonetheless, it was too late to back out. His wrist wasn't as slippery as the fabric, giving Aionia more power to do what she wanted. She used all her diminishing strength in the arm to twist him around to face her. She let go of his wrist for a split second to push him against the wooden wall next to them with the same arm. As long as he couldn't teleport, she had him pinned. He looked her up and down once more, an expression of pure apathy on his face.

"Feisty." He said simply. He kicked her back to escape her. Aionia fell to the floor with a giant thud. "But oh, so annoying." He tossed his cape onto her face.

Aionia growled under her breath. She definitely liked Styx better than this dude.

"Who do you think you are!?" Aionia yelled at him, throwing the cape right back at him. She struggled to get back up with one arm, but that didn't stop her from trying. He stepped carefully around her, walking back towards her sister. Aionia saw her chance and abruptly stopped trying to get up, creating a small smack! as she plopped back to the ground. She used her arm to reach out and grab onto the man's ankle.

She grabbed it, thankful she could touch him without losing the feeling in her arm. Aionia tangled her fingers in between his many sandal straps that reached all up his shins. Once they were securely woven in, she increased the pressure she had on his ankle. She cringed after he began to drag her and she was scratched by the stony floor. All the while, Aionia was attempting to think of her next move. He was sure to notice her at any moment.

But to Aionia's surprise, he didn't pay any attention to her. He reached her sister and suddenly started fading once more. Aionia held on as tight as she could, noticing that she was disappearing again too. She closed her eyes gently, focusing all her energy to holding on to him.

When she opened them, she was in a cave. Her fingers were no longer entangled in his sandals. In fact, she was nowhere near him. She looked up and saw him far away, holding something light blue and glowing. He approached her, and Aionia soon realized that the blue wasn't a something. It was a someone. When he got a little closer, Aionia held back a gasp. It was her sister.

The man stopped in front of her and kneeled down to face her. Quietly, Aionia asked him where she was. He leaned in so that she could see his eyes clearly. Hers widened when she saw his change to red.

"Welcome," He hissed. "To Hades."