And so Hades helped engineer the situation we now see
Both for personal amusement and as a favour to...
Well, we'll get to that
Right now, it's time for the last lock, the trial of love
And who better for it than Ariadne, famed for her love of Theseus?
As it turns out, almost anyone
A small chamber beside the vault slides open
And what is my trial?
Her contempt is thick as Oedipus plugs in to analyse it
He lets out a short laugh
To open the door,
One of our number must prove a love stronger than life
And sacrifice themselves without fear or hesitation
There is silence
No one notices Ulysses' smile
I have to die?
Quite
I'm sure your fee will be paid to Theseus
Who you love so unreservedly
Of course, Ariadne has no intention of
Dying, nor any feeling for Theseus save hate
Alas, no one had known what the trial of love entailed
And she'd been playing the spurned lover so long she
Had believed herself up to whatever it might have been
But this?
No
Theseus, as it turns out, was just a sap Ariadne had been using
To try and regain the societal standing her family had quickly
Lost when it was revealed her parents had created the Minotaur:
A beast that had stalked the City since its founding
Plucking the still living brains from its victims for the Acheron
Ariadne had given Theseus the deactivation codes
In the hope that openly righting her parents' wrong and
Marrying a hero of the people would make for some damn good PR
But Theseus had taken the credit and very publicly jilted her
No, she couldn't die yet
Not when the Ulysses job paid so well
She had a dynasty to rebuild