Leon POV

Despite everything, despite hating Lux's guts with every fiber of my being, my brain wouldn't let me abandon her. No matter how much I loathed her for sending me here, I couldn't leave her to fend for herself. I can't really explain it, but maybe I'm a much nicer guy than I think.

She was struggling hard. It turns out that being a goddess means you never have to deal with mortal needs like eating, drinking, sleeping, or even using the toilet. Now that she was stripped of her powers, Lux had to face all of that, and she had no clue what she was doing. It was almost pitiful, watching her fumble through what should be basic human functions.

The first night was the worst. She didn't understand that she needed to eat, and when she finally did, she didn't know how to ask for food. I had to bring her something, watching her look at it like it was some alien object before awkwardly trying to figure out how to eat it. And sleep? She just sat there for hours, not knowing she was supposed to lie down and close her eyes until the morning when she just completely passed out.

And then there were the other...needs. I won't even get into that. But let's just say I had to help with everything, and it was awkward as hell. Of course, I tried to figure out what had happened. Lux was tight-lipped at first, but eventually, she showed me a document she'd received from the gods about her official sentence. A thousand years. Same as mine. And even when her sentence was up, she wouldn't be reinstated as a goddess. That part stung her the most, I could tell by the way she avoided looking at me when she mentioned it.

So now, she was clueless as she only did her job and said that the other gods did worse things, she suspected that it was our mom wanting to hide her identity since we got too close, but we got no solid proof of that theory, and I doubt we were even that close. Maybe it's Hera, maybe I'm the son of Zeus too, who knows, I mean...Heracles have super strength, right?

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"No offense, I like you, but I don't think I can trust a former goddess." Viper commented as we were having lunch, "She could be here as an undercover."

"She could swear on the Styx."

"...Oh, never mind then, we can trust her."

Currently, it's just me, Viper, Lux, and Evelyn. Evelyn was mostly quiet as she was focused on a book and just listening in. Back to Viper's comment though, his skepticism was understandable. Trusting Lux, even with the goddess card revoked, was a gamble. But then again, everything down here was. The idea of using the Styx as a measure of truth had crossed my mind earlier. Down here, it was one of the few things that held any real weight. So we can easily use it to ensure correct information is provided.

We kept eating, the conversation shifting back to our usual topic: escape. It was all any of us ever talked about, really. The problem was, that we had more obstacles than ideas until Lux dropped something on us that caught me off guard.

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"We can get a wish too, you know." Lux chimed in all of a sudden.

"What?"

"Like the heroes. If they manage to save their worlds, they get a wish. For us, if we reach the end, we each get a wish. The original escapee chose not to use his wish, but I plan to join whatever escape effort there is as my wish would be to get my status as a goddess back."

"Why?" Viper questioned, "Why join those who wronged you like how you wronged Leon here?"

"I plan on investigating all of this, besides, I have nothing to lose."

"Uh...yes, you do, you're reduced to being a demigod with no abilities nor magic. Mike got some, it's little, but it's there."

"That's because his world is considered safe." Lux replied, "Besides, why haven't you all recruited other people like Leon? The ones who rejected being a hero?"

"Oh, I've tried, but what John didn't tell me was that most have already...well, they're mostly in the field of asphodel, and the others rather not take any chances, so I didn't even add them to my narration, they were useless. I'm surprised that the crew can get this big in the first place."

"So when can we leave for Charon? I can recognize him, so you don't have to be confused about which ferryman is which."

If she could identify Charon, that cut out a huge chunk of our guesswork.

"We don't have enough money." Evelyn chimed in, "Leon is helping a lot with his luck, but we currently have enough for 3. We could try and go now, but we're scared that our way to meet him will be shut down after we pull it off, so we're trying to do it all in one go. Plus, you're mortal now, your magic will be nowhere near as strong as when you were a goddess...not that you were strong for a goddess anyway."

"So what do we do now?"

"Well, it's boring, but we have to get a lot of coins. Currently, we're banking on the chances that Leon can get us Plotinum, it'll solve all of our monetary issues."

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So we back in the mines, got our p-

(Author: No. Just no. I am not risking being sued.)

Anyway, we're down in the mines, repeating our same old job again, with Lux joining us in hopes of searching for super rare minerals that we can exchange for coins. The mines are quiet today, especially since a few did recognize Lux, but they didn't reveal their hostile intentions yet. I had to slow down a bit and watch over Lux though, who kept glancing at me every now and then.

Eventually, she broke the silence.

"Why did you help me?" Lux asked in a soft and hesitant tone.

"Felt like I should, I'm not a monster. Mean, sure, but not heartless."

"You've been so cold to me, I deserve it, I know that. But I just don't get how you can switch so easily."

I paused, resting the pickaxe on my shoulder, and shot her a look.

"Switch? Do you think I'm the one switching easily? You're the goddess who got knocked down to mortal status, and now you're suddenly all apologetic. You didn't seem so remorseful when you had power."

Lux winced, looking away. She opened her mouth to say something, but I was already back to mining, I wasn't about to get into some deep, emotional heart-to-heart with her down here.

The next strike of my pickaxe was different. The rock cracked with an unusual sound, and a deep, pulsating aura surged from within the stone. It was like nothing I'd ever felt before, dark and powerful, and it sent a shiver down my spine. I stepped back, the pickaxe still in my hand, as the crack widened, revealing something hidden within.

"What the…" I muttered, narrowing my eyes at the strange, dark steel-like material inside the rock.

Lux stepped closer, her eyes widening as she sensed the aura.

"That's…that's not just any metal," she said as she reached out, almost touching it, but pulled back at the last second, "It's Plotinum."