Hymn of the Elder Gods

Somehow, the Situation Gets Worse

The tolling of bells resonated in Eve's chest, crackling against her ribs with painful fervor. One every few breaths: their sound scorching her eardrums in their wake. They tolled not for the passage of time, which the mythics had no use for, but in typical, superficial fashion, for presentation.

It had grown perceptibly colder. Chimneys on some homes had begun to throw smoke into the air, smelling thickly of incense. Samir's skin was almost feverish under her cold fingers, damp in a way that should have been offputting but instead only increased Eve's terror. Her heart was in her mouth, fleshy and full and suffocating.

Pulling herself together by the skin of her teeth, Eve snuck a glance up at Samir from beneath her lashes, only to find the man already looking at her. The set of his jaw was harsh, in a concerned way, words suppressed by act of sheer will. She'd seen a similar expression directed at her several times in the past, but it had never failed to send a pulse of warmth across the tops of her cheeks. Today, she was too terrified to feel flattered by the attention.

"This way," she said, keeping a firm grasp on the man's hand, guiding him quietly into the maze of downwards sloping streets and towards one of the only places in the city she knew to be abandoned.

Shaped like the budding petals of a flower, each wall of the pale building stretched upwards in elegant arcs. Huddled beneath the enormous, curved walls was a dome constructed of white marble. Their footsteps fell softly on stone tiles as they approached, sending dusty clouds swirling skyward with every footstep.

There was no door, nor any entrance. For all of a second, Eve hesitated, fingers a hairsbreadth from the wall. Would it remember her?

"Eve?" Samir asked, the tenor of his voice startling her, knuckles brushing against the polished white surface. The wall rippled.

She swallowed through a suddenly dry throat.

"Inside," Eve managed in a whisper. "And stay close."

Samir sounded amused despite everything. "That won't be a problem." Did the man know no fear?

Eve clutched his palm tighter as they stepped forward, slipping past the solid surface, which sucked them inside as though welcoming their intrusion. It was more for her comfort than for Samir's, who winced at the strength with which her nails dug into his skin. His rings had warmed with the heat of his body, but they felt soft and smooth where her fingers brushed across them.

It was dark inside. Always had been, but never before had it felt so oppressively suffocating. Air stuck on her tongue, tasting of damp stone. Eve took a second, shuddering step forward. "Stairs."

Samir only stumbled once as they descended.

Eve nearly toppled downwards more times than she was keen to admit, not even her memory of the building enough to keep the nerves at bay. Cobwebs lined the walls, sticky silk against their sides, any living creatures long since dead.

Staircase leveling out, they walked only a minute longer, entering the main chamber of the building.

By her side, Samir's gasp rustled past his lips.

Eve had forgotten how beautiful her home had been, once.

The ceiling was staggeringly uneven, like the rolling keys of a piano. The walls - a bright, bewitching mosaic of colors - melted flawlessly from one scene into another, and shifted softly every few moments, rippling, the tiles shifting and turning to begin displaying a new picture. From the mountains to the far reaches of the sky, magic swallowed them up, rising up around them in waves of sensation and image.

Her gaze trailed downwards towards the floor. The choking sensation in her chest returned twofold, and she was barely able to tackle Samir sideways before her centuries of practice had fed her sharp terror into a cloak of magic to veil them both from sight and silence the sound of their fall.