Memento Mori

Tartarus: Below the underworld

"Omnia mors aequat!" Shouts Moros, his voice echoes over the depths of the underworld.

"Omnia- mors aequat," he repeats and at the moment the silence fills the space. Vivien looks at Moros, which is standing on the cliff before them.

"A child, a woman, a man- Omnia mors aequat!"

"A liar, a thief, a murderer, a lover, a sinner, a mother!"

"Even an honest man- Omnia mors aequat!"

"Death makes everyone equal, each soul is judged by the same standards, what was done was done, each soul decided its fate for itself."

"Unlike the others, you were saved from the burden of death, you can fight and win your life back."

"find sceptre, of the ruler, find Baetylus, the stone endowed with life, then reach the gates of the underworld, since you're still mortals you can exit and earn your life back."

"Lets the game begin!" At once everything goes dark. Vivien loses sense of herself, her body goes numb, her conciseness drifts away.

Cold stone under her body, moist and smog in the air. She opens her eyes slowly, the image before her eyes becoming clear; stone, stone, stone. She's on the ground, stones sinking their sharp edges into her face, in her body. She puts hands against the ground and supports herself then slowly starts to lift herself, she's in her usual clothes with nothing else in her pockets. She gets on her knees then looks around, darkness mixing with greyness. The world has long forgotten this place, a great pit beneath the underworld. Misty gloom, place of decay, constant feeling of discomfort. She stands up and lightly rocks, but that doesn't stop her, she stands up then looks around.

She is trapped in a wretched and dank pit, wherever she looks she sees barren desert of stone, desolated land wrapped into a mist. Everything around her looks the same, plain-looking surrounding with level ground. Finally, she notices a mountain in the distance and behind it a line, which reminds on the wall.

She looks at the floor, at grey stones. She notices darker stones between them. She starts to walk and longer she walks more black stones she spots on her way, they look like volcano stones. She looks in direction of the mountain, there, in distance she recognizes the shape of a man. At once she gets all hopeful and yells.

"Hey! Hey!" She yells again, the man turns to her, it seems he noticed her and glad she smiles but quickly stops. She stops, not sure if she should continue or rather back off. The man starts to approach her, he's holding a rock in his hand, everything about him mistrustful. Closer he gets clearer she can see his characteristics. His hair dark, his skin slightly tanned, his eyes dark blue, different tattoos over his arms. Vivien realizes a possible threat and quickly starts to move back.

"Are you a friend or an enemy?" asks the man, which keeps approaching her.

"I mean no harm," she utters, she can feel how fear makes its way across her body. She prepares to fight or flight but the man stops and narrows his eyes, attentively observing her. He drops the rock then glances around.

Vivien stops, her body slightly shaking. She is not sure if she should move or say anything. She observes him to see if he is a threat.

"I'm looking for a stone attached to the sceptre" he looks back at her.

"I-I" she takes a deep breath then gathers her thoughts together and continues calmly. "I'm looking for it as well."

"So there's more of us." The man stares at her then thinks for a moment. "Maybe there's more, maybe the others know the location of the sceptre," he says to her, "or maybe we were all given the same amount of information." He glances around, constantly on guard.