The throne room settles into a brittle hush. The black-gold seal line under the floor gives one last faint pulse, then lies still, as if listening.
Hades straightens beside the cracked throne, one hand braced on its arm. Thanatos rises from the seal, his gaze fixed on Ares and the quiet mark at his wrist.
Thanatos
The path is clear now. Sisyphus made his thread, and now it must be cut.
Hades
Go. Bring him to account. End this cleanly.
Ares turns from the sealed floor. The throne room doors stand open behind him, a dark exit into the palace and beyond it, Corinth. The duty-mark on his wrist waits, cold and bright, like a pointer toward judgment.
Ares
The mark still knows the way.
Thanatos lowers his chin in solemn approval, and Hades gives a single, steady nod. The final answer is no longer hidden in a ledger or a seal. It lies with the king in Corinth, and with Ares deciding how to meet him.
Ares leaves The Underworld palace throne room behind and arrives at Corinth.
“I go to Corinth”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +1)
Corinth takes him in with salt air, sun-warmed stone, and the sour bite of the old spring. The market noise is softer here than before, like the city itself is holding its breath.
Ares stands in a narrow lane above the square, the duty-mark on his wrist giving a faint answering pulse to the shard at his side. Below, the basin still steams in a cracked ring of blackened stone.
The scar in the basin floor looks recent against the old masonry. A dark seam near it catches the light, then loses it again, as if something beneath the stone is settling.
Sisyphus
You return quickly, god of war.
Sisyphus stands by the spring, cloak open, one hand resting near his robe where the hidden ledger had pressed. His gaze goes straight to Ares, sharp and measuring.
Merope
At least he comes back with a clear face.
Merope remains a step behind her husband, guarded but no longer braced for a blow. Athena lingers farther off, watching the lane and the basin alike.
Athena
The city has not forgiven the spring. Neither should we.
The shard in Ares's hand gives one cold, steady thrum, and the black seam in the basin answers with a dim flicker. Corinth has felt his arrival, and it is waiting for his next move.
Sisyphus
You came all this way, god. Then see it through.
Merope
Corinth will remember this hush, if it ever heals.
Athena
Duty was chosen, and so it is carried.
Ares
Then let this city be unmade from the wound and made whole again.
The shard went still as Ares stood over the broken basin, and the dark seam answered with a final, wavering pulse.
By his hand, the link to the Underworld was severed and Corinth’s corruption was held fast. The spring remained scarred, but the city could breathe again in the long quiet that followed. Ares had done his duty, and the weight of it settled into memory.