94: Clay

"So, where are we going?"

"Up!"

"Really? Where exactly?"

"Out! Why are you asking so many questions? Let's just go! This is going to be our date."

"Okay."

Klein sighed, Zagreus was dragging him across the Underworld, they were 'going up' according to Zagreus, to the surface, so they could have their first official date, according to Zagreus himself. As they walked, holding hands because it was natural for them, Klein had held Zagreus's hand for hours on end, it was like holding a toddler's hand so he could go around and destroy everything. But now it felt different for Klein, holding Zagreus's hand made him think about the chance he gave him, which hopefully Zagreus will use well to at least make his heart flutter.

As they left the Underworld without worries because Hades was forced to let them go by Persephone, and Cerberus couldn't hurt Zagreus nor Klein, they came to the exit where Klein saw the white snow and the frozen forest. "Still winter huh?" Klein commented while the curse activated, absorbing Zagreus's life force, but without Klein's help, he began to channel his divinity through his body to slow down the curse from consuming him. Klein felt a little proud that his student was able to resist the curse for himself, Klein still held his hand just in case he began failing to resist the curse. "Come on! We are going to do some things today." Zagreus smiled at Klein, who just nodded back.

When they arrived at the Hidden Gardens, Klein sighed and went to water the plants and relax a little, Zagreus tagged along and began to ask questions to Klein about the plants... There were many things Zagreus didn't know about the surface, he only knew some animals that wouldn't kill him with 100% certainty... In the Underworld, everything can 100% kill you even if you are already dead. Klein began to explain to Zagreus about trees when they finished taking care of the plants in the garden, he looked around to see the statues he made were cracked or broken, so he decided to make more statues! His statues were so good that even a Gorgon would be jealous of how detailed he can make a statue.

"Hey, Klein... Can you teach me pottery?" Zagreus asked when he saw Klein touch the earth and a pile of clay began to appear from the bottom of the Styx river. Klein looked at Zagreus with a raised eyebrow, he wants to learn pottery? "Why?" Asked Klein, a little curious about Zagreus's answer. "Well, I learned you liked art, so I was curious why you liked it so... I kinda want you to teach me art so I know what you so enjoy about it if you don't mind teaching someone who doesn't know anything about art?" Klein thought for a second before nodding, it won't hurt teaching the kid Zagreus how to make pots, it also won't hurt teaching him about art and why it calms him.

You see, Klein still doesn't know how to express his feelings, he doesn't want them to accumulate like before and explode destroying reality! So the best way he could think of was expressing his feelings through art, be it singing, painting, pottery, sculpting, carving, and maybe other things.

"Sure, why not?" Klein said as he took Zagreus's hand and placed it on the clay for him to hold it, the ground soon raised and a stone platform was in front of them. Klein took the clay from Zagreus's hand and began to shape it, using his hands and [Manipulation: Eath (S)] to shape the piece of clay as he wanted, soon the brown-grey substance began to move by itself as Klein's hand hovered above it and he moved his fingers as if he was a puppeteer and the clay was the puppet. Tendrils of clay began to move out of the cone-shaped clay structure, it soon began to lower as the bottom part got wider and clay-shaped eyes began to appear, together with mouths, making Zagreus shiver suddenly.

"What is this supposed to be? If you don't mind me asking Klein." Zagreus's voice cracked a little and it was when Klein noticed what he has been creating, a tiny sculpture of an Eldritch Horror: "This? This is Nothing." Klein answered while the statue simply returned to a puddle of clay, he then looked a Zagreus and asked: "Wanna try?" Zagreus nodded and Klein smiled, he observer as Zagreus tried to form a tiny cube with his hands but he was unable to. "This is quite hard to do." Zagreus smiled and Klein sighed, he took Zagreus's hands, and together they moved their hands on the clay and began to shape it. Soon, a small version of Cerberus the guard dog of the Underworld, with its three heads and even detailed collar.

Zagreus smiled at his first creation, well, his and Klein's first creation together. "That's quite impressive." Klein nodded, he had been guiding Zagreus with his movements, but Zagreus had the idea of making a tiny Cerberus and began to shape it while Klein helped him getting used to the sticky feeling in his hands. "I just got to do it right because of you, thank you." Zagreus sighed and looked at the tiny statue of Cerberus for a few seconds before saying: "And now what?" Klein sighed and pointed his finger towards the still wet and somewhat loose statue of clay and it began to harden, the process of heating the clay was not necessary.

Zagreus decided to kill his curiosity and asked: "How do you do it?" Klein tilted his head like a confused puppy, which made Zagreus grasp his heart in his mind and asking: "How do you control the elements? My mother told me your Divinity was Destruction and I am quite skeptical about it right now." Klein looked at the curious Zagreus and thought he reminded him of a little animal who was looking at a human full of innocence. Klein shook his head and tried to not think and/or associate Zagreus with something adorable. "Well... I am just good at creating things too, and to answer your question, there are other energies than just Divine Energy in this and other words. Energy is everchanging and volatile, you can use Neutral energies like Psionic or Mana for almost everything, and I like to use Psionic Energy to manipulate the elements."

Half of what Klein told him was gibberish he didn't understand, but in the future, he would understand as Klein would always explain it to him when he asks about energies and magic.