The word of course got back to Thanatos, neutralized by Stygian oath but still always watching, and he felt the stirrings of panic for the first time in his life. He, too, felt the sands of his own hourglass running out, and knew in his gut that the end was approaching - what that ''meant'', he didn't know. But he sensed his impending demise all the same. This panic blended with rage, and early in Maci's pregnancy, as these rumors had cycled, Thanatos formulated a plan that was more batshit unhinged than his previous acts of villainy had been. If Maci and Tory intended to defeat him through their child, then he would meet them on their very own playing field. If his Fate was to disappear - ''fine.'' In his absence, he'd leave them with something - ''someone'' - to remember him by.

As Maci and Tory nearly panic-incinerated Nyx's entire home, she went on to elaborate that somehow, against all odds, this child was not an infant - he'd brought his son to her home to gloat, revealing that despite being born mere months ago, they'd supernaturally aged him up to be about 11 years old. For the first time, Nyx had seen Thanatos for the maniac he was - this visit had been so off the rails, Thanatos' usual disguise of charm fizzled fully away even before his mother - and when they left, she had instinctively called for Maci to report this news. The child's name was [[Chalasmos]], and though Chal's appearance was ashen and bloodshot, he seemed to be every bit as evil as his father.

The character development and main story arc of Chalasmos specifically (Chal for short) would take place many years later, most of which involves Maci as well and can actually be read both on Chal's page (linked again [[Chalasmos|here]]) and by jumping slightly ahead to [[Macaria#Chal|Chal's section in Maci's headings]] - including Chal realizing she was actually a girl and coming out as transgender. But back then, here at the time, Chal existed merely as a mysterious and ominous new weapon Thanatos was crowing about, sending Maci, Tory, new baby Neo, and their friends of the palace on high alert lockdown. By the time this new development was unfolding, thanks to all the reasons listed earlier and now also Neo, baby fever had continued to rapidly spread throughout the Elysium gang, and Jesse and Epi were both currently pregnant. Ushering Epi and his family into the palace for the first time while his abilities were weakened by his and Eury's baby, Maci and Tory hunkered down with anxiety, anticipating that Thanatos would make a move to attack one of them any day now.

Instead, Thanatos caught Maci and company off guard by striking out - ''not'' at any of them in the palace, but at the goddess [[Lethe]], instead. During Maci's pregnancy with Neo, the many gaps of time she'd lost to unconsciousness, Tory had undertaken a project of his own and worked with Lethe and Nyx to locate the three goddesses Thanatos had terrorized and vanished before he'd dated Maci. [[Sophie]], [[Hess]], and [[Amey}. When he had found them, injured and traumatized, Lethe had assisted in working with them to voluntarily erase the worst of each of their memories of what Thanatos had done, allowing them to start anew. With Tory and Maci safely in Elysium, and the Styx oath he'd sworn to leave the palace untouched, he had lashed out in (what Maci assumed was) his revenge and come after Lethe with his scythe.