Requiem for a Prodigal

In my role as protector, I escort my charge to the outside,
 by retracing our route through a realm modified,
 and escape each danger using tricks craftily applied.

When Ampelos felt we were now a safe distance, he instructed me how to depart the Realm of Forms. 

I would have to delay my conversation with Ampelos about his intentions for the time being since I was still subject to his guidance in the Realm of Forms, and I had no idea how to return to my reality. 

I arrive at the oracle of death, but dismissed,
 and alone, I face underworld challenges meant to resist,
 ‘til together, we uncover a relic that shouldn’t exist.

After three trials, I fully expected a fourth to greet me before I arrived at the temple, and I was proven right in my presumption. 

Only when I could no longer see the light at the entrance did I stop and do my best to remain hidden in the shadows, huddling to reduce my silhouette and commanding my breath to slow and calm. 

We followed you to the island with many cats and machines,
 while your journal gave us insight into your mind and your dreams,
 where the spirit of a minotaur gave birth to your newest schemes.

“Not really a hephaesteon,” Thoth explained, “or at least not in the conventional sense of the word. Are you familiar with the thought experiment known as the ‘Ship of Theseus’?” 

“What gives? You seemed rather calm when you walked into the Alehouse for someone who just had their entire team slaughtered.” 

I was driven from paradise chased by a terror nocturnal,

and back home to reunite with an old friend, now paternal,

to begin a journey discovered in the pages of a journal.