The descent ended not with a whisper, but with a confrontation of silence and heat. The deeper we went, the more the abyss revealed its true scale. It was no longer simply a chasm. It was a cathedral of molten stone, a vault suspended between time and eternity, where the very foundations of the world pressed down like the weight of uncounted eons.
Siegfried's chains rang against the blackened walls of Tartarus, sending echoes that bounced like hammers against invisible anvils. Each clang was a reminder that this place was alive, breathing, and measuring the intruders. The air shimmered with heat, thick enough to bend perception, and every step released bursts of magma and fire from fissures in the floor. I felt my obsidian body vibrate in sympathy with the tremors, the lycoris at my heart pulsing in resonance with the fury of this infernal realm.
— Here, Siegfried murmured, his voice heavier than the stone surrounding us, the foundation is not just below. It is everywhere. The air itself carries the weight of Chronos' fragments, the memory of his will. One misstep and even I could be torn apart.
I nodded, letting the crimson light of the lycoris flare brighter, reflecting against the molten walls. The red illuminated each jagged contour of the abyss, casting shadows that twisted into impossible geometries. The heat did not merely burn; it measured our endurance, as if the fire itself wanted to confirm we were worthy to touch the core.
The corridor of molten stone widened into a cavernous expanse, a void so immense that even the light of the lycoris barely pierced its farthest corners. And then I saw it.
A pillar.
Not just any pillar, but a monolithic shaft of obsidian and tempered stone, stretching from the molten floor far into the black ceiling, disappearing into the shadows above. Its surface shimmered faintly, like liquid trapped beneath polished rock, veins of ancient fire running along its length. It did not merely support the Tartarus; it was the foundation of the abyss itself. Every tremor, every quake, every hiss of molten rock seemed to originate from this singular mass.
Siegfried stopped beside me. His single eye glimmered with caution and awe, reflecting the pillar's immense presence.
— This… he whispered. Not a sound, but a resonance in my mind. This is the backbone. The spine of Tartarus. Whoever touches it… shapes the fate of everything that rests upon it.
I stepped closer, my obsidian limbs absorbing the heat without faltering. The pillar radiated an authority older than the gods, older than time itself. I felt the fragments of Chronos thrumming inside me, drawn toward this source like iron filings to a magnet. The red lycoris pulsed violently, reacting to the ancient force embedded in the foundation.
— Chronos' will… I muttered. The fragment I consumed… it speaks through this stone. It hungers to merge, to awaken fully.
Siegfried's chains rattled faintly, a sound that mirrored the tension vibrating through the molten air.
— Be careful, he said. The deeper we go, the more Tartarus becomes conscious. It will not merely allow passage. It will test you. It will ask for a price.
I raised a hand to touch the surface of the pillar. The heat surged through me, not as pain, but as a pressure, a question. It was as though the stone itself asked, "Are you worthy?" My lycoris flared, veins of crimson light spreading across my black glass skin, and I pressed forward, letting my will and rage converge with the pulse of the abyss.
The pillar responded. Not with movement, but with resonance. The floor beneath us trembled, faint at first, then violently, and a low hum filled the cavern, vibrating through bone and chain, through obsidian and molten rock. Every shadow along the walls stretched and twisted, forming jagged silhouettes of ancient titans, echoes of beings who had once challenged the gods and failed.
I stepped closer, letting my obsidian claw scrape against the stone. Sparks flew. Not fire, not heat, but a brilliance of pure energy, reacting to the fragment of Chronos within me. The pillar thrummed, vibrating in acknowledgment of the merger.
— Jormund, Siegfried murmured, the chains clinking, the vibration echoing his concern. This is not merely a structure. It is a sentient anchor. And when the gods learn you have reached it…
I turned to him, my red lycoris burning like a warning flare in the darkness.
— Then let them come.
We stood together, two anomalies in a space older than memory, feeling the pulse of the pillar reverberate through our bodies. Time here no longer flowed. Every second was an eternity, every heartbeat a drum signaling both caution and defiance.
Then… a shiver passed through the abyss. Not from below, not from the molten floor, but from above. A presence so colossal it made the pillar tremble, so immense it made the molten floor quiver.
Siegfried's chains rattled violently. I felt it in my chest, in the lycoris, in the stone beneath my feet.
— Something comes, Siegfried warned, almost inaudibly, though the vibration spoke louder than words.
The heat seemed to warp further, twisting the air into jagged currents. Shadows coiled and stretched toward the center of the chamber, and the distant ceiling of Tartarus groaned under an unseen weight.
And then I saw the first glimmer of light. Not fire from the abyss, but an unnatural radiance, a golden brilliance piercing the darkness like a blade. It was pure, blinding, the signature of a god.
— Zeus, I whispered, though even my obsidian voice barely carried in the trembling air.
Siegfried's single eye widened.
— Be ready, he said. Whatever comes, it will test everything we are.
The light grew brighter, scattering molten shadows across the walls. The air vibrated with thunderous echoes, the kind that precede storms that can reshape mountains. I felt the weight of Olympus pressing down on the abyss, the presence of a being accustomed to commanding the sky itself.
The pillar shivered once more, as if acknowledging not only our presence, but the arrival of a power far greater than even Tartarus itself.
— So it begins, Siegfried murmured, his chains singing like an organ of molten metal. The gods will descend… and our trial will be tested beyond anything we have known.
I planted my obsidian feet firmly on the molten floor. The lycoris flared, a beacon of defiance and fire. I had descended to the roots of Tartarus, merged with fragments of Chronos, and claimed a power older than most gods could comprehend.
And yet… the arrival of Zeus reminded me that even at the foundations of the world, the challenge was far from over.
The first crack of thunder, the first glimmer of lightning, and the very air split with divine authority. From the void above, the King of Olympus descended, his aura scorching, his presence undeniable.
I clenched my fists. Siegfried's chains rattled in warning. The pillar stood between us and the power of Olympus.
— Let him come, I said, my voice a low, resonant growl through the molten chamber. The foundations of Tartarus are mine to touch, and I will not yield.
The abyss waited. And so did Zeus.