Things I Wrote at One Time or Another

The Arcana; "Orpheus"

A/N: this was gonna be something longer. I was going to connect Orpheus to Asra ✌️

𝐎𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐬
possibly relating to the Greek word (orphne) meaning "the darkness of the night."

•

The halls were encased in the smell of old books and its displaced inhabitants—the few who managed to find temporary shelter within the library's maze of bookshelves. Vincent turned up his nose at the group of whispering children huddled in one corner, fighting over a storybook. Trailing behind him in awe, Luca flashed them a quick smile, wanting to ask about the book but was quickly ushered away by his companion.

"I doubt we'll find what we're looking for if this is how they manage their institution," The older man complained, loud enough for the children to hear and shuffle away. Luca looked away in embarrassment, finding it hard to like his friend sometimes. But he managed to do so anyway, "You said we?"

Vincent glanced at him, as if his presence was merely a second thought, but a light blush appeared on his pale cheeks. "You've infested my brain, it's hard not to say 'we' when you're in my presence all the time," he admitted, begrudgingly.

A teasing smile curled on his lips, his fingers inching towards Vincent's abdomen to tickle him again but the man quickly swatted his hand away; a small sound of shock erupted from Vincent's lips in the process. The sound echoed for a moment, making Luca laugh. Vincent shushed him, his face completely flushed, "I give you an inch and you take the whole lot—go make yourself useful and get out of my sight so I can focus."

Luca pouted, "You make this whole partnering business so hard, Vinny."

"I agreed to it against my will, but I did not agree to being called Vinny—now go, I'll wait for you by the entrance in an hour or so." And with that, he turned on his heel and ventured further into the maze.

Luca stood there for a minute, sucking his bottom lip as he thought of something to do. The children were gone, and all the books around him seemed to be about geometry and other complicated abstract sciences. He opened one up out of curiosity, but was disappointed to find that the entire thing was filled with complicated and vague words alongside confusing diagrams. He shut it and placed it back. He'd have to wander a bit and try to find his way around—perhaps just wait by the entrance until Vincent was done.

He contemplated this as he looked around, too often pausing to take a look inside an interesting book—whether it had an intriguing title or it was decorated beautiful—but most of them held little value. He wanted stories, fantasies, poems, epics—the like.

He tried to make sense of the maze, reading the signs and guessing where he'd want to go next. There was a whole section full of atlases to which he studied for a while before getting tired of all the longitudes and latitudes and the lack of detailed pictures. Next he found a section full of languages; tomes ready to teach Basque, Latin, Arabic, Saan, Nijoni, etc. He flipped through a few Basque exercises, reciting the accents to his pleasure until he got tired of that too.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of wandering, he found a section full of myths. Poems and epics from various religions and countries, from different ages, told in different voices. He admired the collection, flipping through almost everything—gazing at multi-limbed deities and reciting old poems about tragic heroes and beautiful women.

And then, as he was retrieving a particular book on a high shelf, another was knocked out of place and almost struck his head. He moved aside and picked it up; it's cover was simple, it's bookend gilded lightly with golden leaves. The title, Metamorphoses, was engraved within it. He had never heard of the author, but found himself flipping through its pages.

To his surprise, someone had bookmarked a certain page with a piece of old string. It opened to a new chapter entitled "The Tragic Song of Orpheus, and the tale of his journey to Hades for Eurydice." Luca thought the name was too long, but it intrigued him anyway.

Hades, he learned, was a name for the underworld but also the name of its King. In the story; Orpheus, son of a muse, falls in love with Eurydice, who is bitten by a snake and taken to Hades. Being tragically in love with her, Orpheus travels down to the underworld to retrieve her. The song attached to the story is the one he sings to Hades and his queen, Persephone, who end up granting his wish. However, he is not to look back, otherwise he'll lose Eurydice forever.

Orpheus looked back.

Luca read the story, rereading the ending a couple times as it seemed to startle something inside him. He imagined Orpheus, a young man with his lyre, glowing with life in the darkness of the world of death. And then he thought of Eurydice, turned frail and translucent by the loss of her vitality. He imagined the marble of Orpheus' neck as he turned to look back at her, to make sure she was there. He imagined the look on her face when she found herself torn from him at that moment—was she in despair? Could she forgive him?

"Orpheus" the name wrapped itself around his mouth, soft yet strong. He sat on the floor, mouthing the words of the story again to himself as something brewed inside his mind. He thought again and again of that moment: the head turn, her eyes as she disappeared, the cry that must've erupted from his throat then—a terrible song that carried him back to the living.

He tried to imagine his face, what he'd look like—but nothing clear came to mind like it did with Eurydice.

He'd borrow the book, he settled.