The Haunting of Guaritori Diolco, Part 35
Plunging into the Void
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It turned out to be difficult to reach a place that no longer existed. The path we had followed before from Erebus down to Tartarus was no longer there. Apparently, parts of Erebus had slid into where Tartarus used to be. I had to take Zeus’s word for that. I couldn’t really tell the difference between the darkness of Erebus and the darkness of a completely empty void.
“It is not enough to use magic to adapt your physical eyes so that he can see in the dark,” said Medea. “You need to observe with your magical senses as well.”
I’d been able to sense magic in several different ways, but it hadn’t occurred to me that there was much to see here, magically or otherwise. However, when I tried harder to focus on my surroundings, I realized I could perceive far more than I’d expected.
The absolute void where Tartarus had been really was completely blank, even when viewed through my magical senses. But the bits of Erebus that had drifted down into the void had small ripples of magic in them. Much to my surprise, there were also what looked like human shadows moving through the darkness of Erebus yet distinct from it.
“Are there…people here?” I asked.
“When humans die, their souls go to the Underworld, but their shadows go to Erebus,” said Medea.
Iskios nodded. “I think Tartarus told me that once. I was interested in that when I was little—the first time, I mean. Eriopis thought that the shadows might retain some of the personality of the humans to which they had been attached, kind of like an echo. She was interested in that question, though Tartarus seemed indifferent to it.”
As Iskios spoke, the shadows, whose movements had been random as far as I could tell, began moving in his direction. One of the principles of magic was that like attracts like. Perhaps the shadows were drawn to the part of his nature derived from the darkness of Tartarus.
“Help us!” I knew they had spoken, though they were completely silent. I heard them magically, not physically, but there was no mistaking their message.
Iskios’s eyes widened a little. “How can I help you?”
“Preserve Erebus!” they shouted in eerie unison, moving closer as they did so.
“We are here to restore Tartarus, which normally lies beneath Erebus,” Iskios replied. “If we are successful, Erebus should be protected.”
The way the shadows moved made me feel as if they were dissatisfied with his answer, but they didn’t speak again. Perhaps they were waiting to see what he would do.
“I don’t sense Tartarus,” said Zeus. “Iskios, can you feel his presence?
“Not in the immediate area. Father, are you here? We urgently need to speak with you.”
I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hear Tartarus respond, but Iskios’s disappointed look made it clear he hadn’t gotten any response.
“I shall try,” said Zeus. “Father, heed our call. We need you.” Silence both physical and magical followed his appeal.
“It appears that both of you are too changed for Tartarus to recognize you,” said Mateo. “I will pray that God helps us find a solution.”
“Surely, Tartarus cannot tell that my soul is in this Telchine body,” said Zeus.
“No, but he may be able to sense the magical aura around you,” said Medea. “It is…more electrical than a Telchine would have. Perhaps you can adjust it.”
Zeus frowned at Medea but tried to do as she had asked. His aura shifted and twisted, but his second appeal got just as little response as his first.
Mateo prayed silently nearby. I could tell from the glow around him that he was concentrating deeply. Because the glow wasn’t physical light, it didn’t seem to bother the shadows. At least, they didn’t move away from him. However, their movements became more rapid and frantic, perhaps because they realized that we weren’t having any luck reaching Tartarus.
“Is it possible that Tartarus ceased to exist when his realm disintegrated?” asked Medea. Iskios cringed at the thought. Zeus didn’t look any happier about it, though it was hard to read emotions on his borrowed, corpselike face.
“If that is true, we may have no way to avert the collapse of this plane,” said Zeus.
“Erebus is an elder power, too,” said Iskios, his voice slightly shaky. “Could he contact Tartarus for us?”
“That’s a good idea,” said Zeus. “But Erebus is perhaps the elder power least likely to interact with anyone. Only the eldest powers, Chronos and Ananke, have held themselves more aloof.”
“Yet Chronos did intervene once recently,” I said. My voice—everyone’s voice, in fact, sounded dead in this place. I wouldn’t have expected endless darkness to have any acoustic properties, but there was certainly something different about the acoustics here than the ones we were used to.
“Could the shadows communicate with him?” I asked. “They are his…subjects, after all.”
“That just might work!” said Iskios, his worried expression smoothing out. “Shadows, I need your help! Can you get Erebus to speak to us?”
The request produced a surprising amount of silent stirring among the shadows. When they finally spoke, their excitement led them to abandon their earlier choral mode and all speak at once. The result psychically deafening.
“One at a time!” said Iskios, who put his hand to his temple as if he were getting a headache.
“I will speak, for I am the shadow of Thessalus. I sense that I was once your uncle since Eriopis was my sister. But now I am somehow like your half-brother, for the man who resembles you was once my father and has now become yours.”
“It appears Eriopis was correct about shadows retaining some connection to the mortal to whom they were attached,” said Medea, looking about as surprised as I’d ever seen her.
“And perhaps psychically connected to their kin,” said Zeus.
“Brother, can you and your shadow brethren fetch Erebus for us?”
“We will try. We will gather all the shadows who dwell here and call as one for Erebus. We have never done such a thing before. But if he will listen to any call, it will be ours.”
The nearby shadows flew away from us, seeming more like a flock of ravens than human shadows.
“We should have brought Thoth,” said Medea. “He would have loved learning more about the shadows on this plane.”
“So would Eriopis,” said Iskios quietly. He knew now that she had misled him in many ways—but he still missed her.
“You did a good job with the shadows,” I said, wishing I could say more but knowing Iskios would almost certainly reject anything too sappy. He gave me a nod, and the ghost of a smile might have touched his lips, but I wasn’t sure.
While we waited for Erebus, Iskios and Zeus both tried to reach him themselves. Their efforts were just as fruitless as their earlier try. The shadows really were our last hope.
Most of us were restless. Only Mateo, still focused on prayer, wasn’t fidgety.
We all felt a sudden change in the darkness, a shift as profound as what tiny fish might feel as a whale approaches. An enormous darkness even more absolute than the background darkness of this place engulfed us.
“You!” I shuddered as the condemnation in that voice swept through me. “This is all your fault!”
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