(Greek Mythology) The Abyss
Chapter Twenty-Seven
"Brother, do you have anything that can stabilize divine power?"
As everyone knows, Tartarus has a research obsession; he always has things with various special properties, so Erebus's first thought when something happens is to Tartarus.
"Has someone gotten into trouble?" Tartarus frowned slightly, asking with some doubt.
Then, he heard an inspiring story about his little brother's indomitable spirit and reckless self-destruction.
"Just formed a body and instead of staying in the temple to recuperate, he's out out partying like crazy! Eros, you're such a fool."
"Don't worry about him." Tartarus didn't want to deal with this self-inflicted trouble; it would allow Eros to behave himself for a few more years.
"Then let's ignore him." He replied indifferently; nothing serious would happen anyway. Erebus didn't really mind letting his self-inflicted little brother suffer a bit.
"But, brother, couldn't you change the entrances to the Abyss?"
The Abyss has many entrances, some easy to find, others extremely hidden, the difficulty depending on the distance between the destination and the Abyss Temple.
However, since Tartarus designated a portion of the Abyss as a prison, while some entrances are still easy to find, unfortunately, they all lead to the prison.
Erebus remarked that this was a truly sad story. The first time he went to the Abyss after the prison was built, he accidentally entered it. Although he was quite adapted to the hellish environment due to his dark attribute, the aura of death doesn't discriminate by attribute! Who wants to go to that kind of hellish place? He certainly didn't want to stay there.
Aside from the obvious entrances, the rest were all increasingly bizarre. The entrance he had just entered through was relatively normal; it only required finding a specific stone in the water and channeling divine power into it, although there were quite a few stones in the water, and they looked somewhat similar.
Of the other entrances, the one his daughter often used was the one he remembered most clearly. It opened in the air, and the way to enter was to jump off a sheer cliff and experience the thrill. Of course, before jumping, you had to pick a spider lily from a specific place—it was a one-time key. Otherwise, you could just wait to die. Erebus didn't know what lay at the bottom of the cliff; in any case, no creature that fell had ever returned.
"Isn't this better?" Tartarus countered. His Abyss wasn't a place anyone could come and go as they pleased. The Abyss was desolate and lifeless, yet it contained many extremely precious and rare materials. Driven by profit, some creatures would always sneak in with a glimmer of hope. Since that was the case, then once they came, they wouldn't have to go back.
"Alright, I won't mention the entrance, but could you please fix the exit?"
The entrances and exits of the Abyss are all one-way. Perhaps to match the highly peculiar entrances, the exits are also quite unique (and frustrating). The nine exits move randomly and without any pattern outside of the prison. If you're lucky, one might appear right in front of you; if you're unlucky, you might search for centuries without finding it—it's purely a matter of luck.
"I'll give you a necklace," Tartarus said sincerely after a moment's thought.
A necklace specially crafted by the God of the Abyss, allowing non-dark-attribute beings to move freely in Hell. It possesses a range of functions, such as opening the Abyss's exits at any time and commanding all non-divine beings in Hell. It's the perfect setup for a short trip or long-term residence in Hell. You deserve it.
"No need, I think things are fine as they are," Erebus quickly refused. He always trusted his intuition, and he had a feeling that agreeing would lead to something bad.
Sure enough, Tartarus's next words confirmed Erebus's premonition, "What a pity, those necklaces were made according to the blueprints Nix gave me a few days ago."
Nix... a few days ago...
Erebus recalled... he remembered... those blueprints... were... all about women's jewelry.
Imagining himself wearing a woman's necklace, Erebus shuddered. The image was too beautiful to bear. Thankfully, he hadn't agreed. If he had accepted the necklace, he was sure his wife and older brother would have conspired to force him to wear it, absolutely.
Just as Erebus was secretly rejoicing, a soft sound came. Erebus looked in the direction of the sound and paused, stunned, after seeing something very familiar.
After a few seconds of careful examination, Erebus was certain he wasn't seeing things; it really was very familiar. It was the vines that grew everywhere outside the Abyss Temple, with a few of those translucent flowers on them.
A…moving vine
Okay, moving vines aren't unusual; Erebus has seen them before. But a moving vine that doesn't grow in the mud, and appears in the Abyss Temple at that? Erebus was bewildered.
"What is this?"
"My pet."
…A pet…??
Staring blankly as the vine slowly moved to Tartarus's hand, then wrapped itself around his wrist, disguising itself as a bracelet, the dense, almost black, dark green vine standing out beautifully against his fair skin.
Beautiful…beautiful my foot! Keeping a vine as a pet, buddy, your style is getting more and more bizarre.
"Erebus, wait a minute." Looking at the vine, Tartarus seemed to have thought of something, tossed out a sentence, and turned to go to the back hall.
A while later, Erebus watched in disbelief as his older brother emerged carrying a fluffy white ball of fur.
"Here you go." Tartarus said, handing the white fur ball to Erebus.
... ... ... ...
Perhaps annoyed by Erebus's prolonged silence, the white fur ball wriggled free from Tartarus's grasp and landed on the ground. After bouncing a few times, it leaped onto Erebus's shoulder, affectionately nuzzling her cheek with its fluffy body.
"This is…" Startled by the fur ball's actions, Erebus stiffened, her voice trembling slightly.
"Nix wanted it. Now that you're here, you can take it back to her." After a pause, Tartarus added, "Also, remember to tell Nix not to forget to water it."
...Water…?
After taking the white fur ball off her shoulder and examining it for a moment, Erebus gave up on this pointless act.
So what exactly is it? If it's a plant, are there plants with hairy fuzz? But if it's an animal, do animals need watering?
Erebus tragically discovered that in some ways, he seemed forever unable to keep up with his wife and older brother's thinking.