There is once again the presence and the feeling of amusement, and an exit materialises.

" And Master Chaos, it would be hilarious if the first person we ran into outside were your grandson." Then Zagreus hops to his feet in a single motion then strides over to and into the portal.

Zagreus follows.

There's the familiar feeling of disorientation, a shifting of perspective, and then...

...they find themselves in a garden. The grass is soft green and the ground is adorned with occasional berry bushes and tall flowers. The place they're at seems to be a small meadow surrounded by ruined stone architecture covered by overgrowth, and the burbling of a fountain can be heard not too far away.

"...where... are we?"

"The Fields of Elysium, home to the great mortals, champions and leaders and sculptors and poets. Those who have distinguished themselves and been set apart from their peers as a reward for their achievements."

Why, yes, Zagreus does find the whole arrangement his father set up for organising mortals distasteful, why do you ask?

He nods heavily, agreeing with the undertone.

"I expect I'll be just about useless up here, but I'll help out anyway, of course."

"If you see a ball of butterflies either run like hell if you don't think you can dodge the butterflies or kill it with prejudice, the statues are also hostile, and if you kill a shade and it leaves fiery ghostly remains kill those too or they might reform."

And with that in mind they can set off. Given that Zagreus had immediately cleared the surroundings of shades, Hades is probably still gathering more forces to send his way, so at least for the moment the walk is peaceful and uneventful. Zag's gait is the same relaxed, unhurried gait he was adopting in Chaos when he was pacing the floor.

Zagreus walks in Zagreus's wake, keeping a sharp eye out for danger, whether of the forms his rhyme-self described or other ones. It's definitely beautiful here.

It doesn't take long.

The short-lived portals they're used to start popping up around them when they get to a sufficiently large clearing and from them emerge shades unlike any Other Zagreus has seen. They are fully humanoid, their bodies made of glowing blue ectoplasm and their weapons—many weapons, bows and swords and shields and spears—are gold and pink. In addition to those, there is a chariot in gold, red, and purple, a mischievous face carved in front of it and no one manning it. That does not seem to stop it from charging in their direction as soon as it "sees" them.

This Zagreus shifts from the relaxed stance to a battle-ready stance at the speed of thought, sidestepping the chariot and with a single motion dashing towards one of the bow-shades and slicing at it.

He's trying to be cautious and pay attention and take Other Zagreus's advice, but that goes straight out the window in short order.

His fighting style is... interestingly similar to Other Zag's, and interestingly different. They had the same teacher and it shows, and many of the little habits of movement they have are similar, but the difference between 'moving first' and 'looking first' is becoming very apparent. This Zagreus does not do broad strategic analysis. He flings himself into the path of danger without waiting for his conscious thoughts to catch up, and they don't, and it doesn't matter because he doesn't need them, his body can do all the work.

That aside, he is definitely not as good at this as Other Zag. Less experienced, less polished. He's managing to hang onto his life so far, but it's a close thing.

This Zag fights a little bit like he's puppetting his body from afar, like he is a chess piece and the battlefield is a chess board. Every move is trying to bring him to a more advantageous board state, or at least not a less advantageous one, and just like in chess you sometimes sacrifice your pieces. He isn't reckless but he does make choices about what to do that will predictably lead him to get hurt, and he's fine with that.

He has two game pieces this time, though, and although he cannot control Other Zag he can still account for him and organise things with his apparent capabilities and skill in mind. Other Zag will occasionally find This Zag actively redirecting shades his way or away from him, and things work out... better than they would otherwise have, probably.

He is very good at reading moment-to-moment intentions on Other Zag and not very good at picking up on long-term strategic plans or objectives. They do seem to work well together, though, even though Other Zag keeps having to save his ass when he gets in over his head.

And soon enough they've cleared the surroundings of the dead, only slightly worse for wear. "You know, it never occurred to me that watching another me fight would be hot but it kind of is."

He looks surprised, then thoughtful. "...you know, I bet it would be, if I wasn't too busy fighting to think about it."

"You could watch me next time if you like."

But then everything goes still, the omnipresent soft shimmer in the air is gone, and the death knell sounds.

"Thank you, Master Chaos."

Thanatos appears in a puff of rapidly dissipating smoke, floating a foot above the ground and holding his scythe in one hand, looking...

...honestly probably more relaxed than Other Zag has ever seen him. "Miss me, Zagreus?"

—then he notices the other Zag and immediately adopts a much more reserved and closed off expression that is much more typical. "...two Zags."

"Two Zags!" the other Zag agrees cheerfully. "It's Chaos's fault somehow. We're not sure what's going on, but we're getting along all right so far."

Thanatos looks between the two of them and... experiences some emotion, based on the minor twitches of the muscles on his face.

Zag is not used to thinking of Thanatos as readable, but he makes an effort. ...no, he's really not sure.

"I'm the other one," he offers. "You probably already know that, but just so it's clear."

"What does that mean."

"When I arrived in Chaos he was there. Apparently we have, like, very similar histories and such, but different personalities, and it's not clear the other people he knows are like the other people here—as in, I don't know if his Thanatos is like you or if he's just similar to you in the same way I'm similar to the other Zag."