Ares leaves the edge of Tartarus behind and returns to Asphodel’s grey hush. The meadow is still, but not empty, a faint drowsy veil hangs low over the grass.
Under a crooked willow, Hypnos sits among the silent souls, his robes pooled around him like midnight mist. He lifts his head as Ares approaches, tired eyes sharpening with concern.
Hypnos
You look like you have been carrying the Underworld on your shoulders. Rest, if you can. The mortal realm is growing uneasy.
Hypnos
With death halted, the living feel it. Fever lingers, wounds do not close right, grief has nowhere to go. It is spreading fear above, and strain below.
He pats the grass beside him, then glances toward the drifting souls as if counting their breaths by habit. A soft wave of sleep rolls outward, making the meadow even quieter.
Hypnos
If you are here for a moment’s peace, take it. If you are here for answers, I may have those too. The unrest has a source, and it feels wrong to me.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what is causing the unrest in the mortal realm
✓ Quest Accepted
Preserve the meadow’s peace
““Death is halted? What are you talking about?””
SUCCESS (Poor Reasoning, rolled +1)
Ares
Death is halted? What are you talking about?
Hypnos
I mean exactly that. The chain is broken somewhere above us, and the wound shows everywhere it should not.
Hypnos
People live, but wrong. Fevers linger. Cuts refuse to close. Grief circles with nowhere to settle.
He lowers his hand from the grass and looks past Ares, toward the sleeping meadow as if listening to the silence for a crack in it.
Hypnos
The unrest is not fear alone. It is the world pushing against a law that no longer answers.
The silent souls remain still, but the sleep-haze over the grass stirs once, then thins again around them.
Hypnos
If you seek the cause, start with the one who benefits from death failing. The source is not here in Asphodel.
Quest Complete
Preserve the meadow’s peace