Umbra

Chapter 41

Tartarus was guiding her.

The path persisted, perfectly clear. She glided over shadows, preventing the jagged rocks from slicing open her soles. The fog flanked each side, the winding route sloping more and more as it approached the edge of a cliff.

The closer she got, the faster her heart beat, a strange warmth flowing through her as her body recalled what her mind couldn't. She knew Akhlys had not deceived her by offering this path— she knew she was going home.

Once she reached the edge, she looked down into the chasm, finding a darkness so deep that for the first time, the unknown unsettled her. Floating three hundred feet below where she stood, was a doorway of black marble, leading into some sort of large room. It was the mansion's entrance, but she couldn't even see the mansion.

Further down, between the cliff and the doorway, was an abyss she recognized even without having been there. Or, at least, not having been there when she was conscious enough to remember it. Nothingness– Chaos.

It was marvelous even if she knew what falling in would have in store for her. Chaos, her great-grandparent, the one all stemmed from. She'd be lost in there forever.

(Hadn't she always felt lost in life? Out of place in the mortal world?)

Emilia willed the shadows to form a bridge, carrying her down to the doorway and avoiding the fall into Chaos. The shadows seemed to curl on their own, ghostly limbs pointing toward the Mansion and newly formed heads cocking eagerly like puppies guiding their owner to something exciting.

The darkness pushed her ahead, and the shadows flowed at her feet like a red carpet. As the doors loomed over her, there came a flutter in her stomach, a sense of familiarity she hated being unable to place. In there was her legacy, the part of her she had only scratched the surface of.

She wondered if Eris would be waiting, eager to see her. Would it be so? Or would she resent having chosen to return to Tartarus for her? She could be welcomed with open arms or a sneer.

She assumed she was safe here but perhaps the opposite was true, and she'd kidded herself into thinking the Mansion of Night would resonate like home.

She reached the doors, placing her palm over the handle, far too big for her to fully grasp On command— or perhaps the shadows had turned it for her; they seemed to have a will of their own here— they opened, clearing a space for her to enter.

Atlas had once told her that what was within the Mansion of Night was not meant for mortal eyes. It could lead to madness that could never be cured, not even by Dionysus. All the horrors of the world were contained in it, a gigantic space filled with suffering that could overwhelm, of darkness that brought so much fright that people could die simply from being scared.

To Emilia, it was just a regular mansion. She entered a foyer made entirely of black marble, a shimmer of purple over each entryway into another room. There was one main hallway ahead, barely visible through the curtains of dark energy. It seemed to go on forever, with massive doors on either side.

The ceiling must have been at least sixty feet over her head, but she wasn't entirely sure it ended. In the center of a glittering dome hung what could have been a chandelier, though it sparkled and changed form so often that she assumed it to be another mass of black energy, dark matter that simply swirled in place to decorate the entrance hall.

She heard whispers all around. Further ahead, screams of agony. Whimpers, scratching, cackles. None of it unsettled her. She remembered watching horror movies with Pollux and wondering why mortals were thrilled by them. These sounds were the same ones she'd thought to hear alone in her room as a little girl, under the impression that no one cared.