“That won’t be necessary, Priestess.” His voice was soft as his features flickered, more of his godlike attributes returning as ripples of dark power moved over his skin. “I meant what I said, if you’d allow me to pay my respects.”
“O–of course.” The woman kept her head bowed as she stepped aside, her eyes only flickering up briefly to meet his. Erebus stepped over the threshold and walked inside and shut the door behind him. His eyes took no time to get used to the darkness.
The room opened, revealing a two-story space that was meticulously cared for. He could see how the hidden nature of the building and its discreet door had kept it safe over the years. The floor was tiled simply, but exquisitely. He recognized marble stones and mother-of-pearl which had to have cost a mortal fortune to bring from Crete. It created a luminescent effect like walking on moonlight. The ceiling contained heavy rafters of dark wood, a tapestry hanging from each beam. They depicted stunning illustrations of the cosmos, of constellations and the moon phases. The golden threads shone in the dim lightning, giving the overall effect of a night sky.
It was the very center of the room, however, that took Erebus’s breath away. At the head of the long hall, standing taller than a human man, was a statue made of impeccable white stone. There were only a few fires in the space, casting it in such a light that it looked as though it was glowing from within. It was impeccable craftsmanship, so well done that even a primordial like Erebus had to admit it. The expression on its face was so lifelike, so full of emotion, it looked like it was going to start breathing. In front of the statue was a small, circular altar, filled with a small moat of water around the center where the temple’s eternal flame was lit. More sticks of incense and their wispy tails of smoke dotted the halls, filling the room with the smell of night-blooming jasmine and rosemary.
“Welcome,” the priestess had walked up quietly behind him, “to the last temple of the Goddess of night.”
Erebus’s voice was filled with holy reverence as he looked up at the statue’s stone eyes.
“It’s Nyx.”
24
The priestess nodded, sensing Erebus’s emotion as she took a few steps back towards the doorway. Erebus walked forward, his eyes fixated on Nyx’s stone expression. He made it to the front of the altar when he turned and looked at the woman.
“How long have you kept watch over this place?” he asked with a gentle invitation in his voice, beckoning her to his side. His voice was barely over a whisper. The priestess stepped forward and sighed softly, joining him in looking up at the marble depiction of the primordial.
“My entire life. It has been the only home that I have ever known.”
Erebus startled and looked down at the woman, seeing only adoration in her eyes.
“I didn’t… I didn’t think that was possible. Hera…” he trailed off at seeing the pain in the priestess’s eyes at the mention of Zeus’s wife.
“Yes.” Her answer was clipped, but Erebus knew that the anger wasn’t directed at him. “Hera took over all of Nyx’s temples roughly a century ago. This space contains the remnants of all that survived, brought here by any of the devotees that could escape. The tapestries came from a temple in Thermopole. The altar was plucked from the ruins in Ephesus, so on and so forth.”
“This is… the only temple to Nyx left.” Erebus let the statement wash over him like a wave as he fought the impulse to go back to Olympus and slaughter both Zeus and Hera. He had known that her temples were dwindling. It had motivated him to fight with Zeus, but he had assumed that most of them had fallen to the whims of mortal men. He didn’t realize how calculated the attack on his consort had been by the queen of the gods.
This was a mistake.The truth rang out between Erebus’s ears, and he felt nauseous. The priestess continued.
“My mother was a child at the infamous attack on the temple in Delphi where Nyx pleaded to the Fates and cut the acolyte’s strings of life before they could be assaulted. My mother hid and then married herself off to a fisherman to avoid any further persecution if Hera’s servants discovered she had survived.”
“How did you manage to get here?” Erebus turned and looked at the woman with a confused expression, trying to unravel the story of the last temple they stood in.
“My father was a greedy man. He never paid homage to Poseidon and boasted he could plunder from the sea without repercussion.”
Erebus visibly grimaced and the woman laughed, a bright sound that startled him.
“Exactly. Luckily, I take after my mother.” The priestess stepped away from Erebus and began walking around the perimeter of the room, re-lighting incense as she spoke. “In the end, it wasn’t Poseidon who went after my father. It was Amphitrite, who acted in respect of her husband and drowned my father’s boat. My mother was pregnant with me at the time.”
Erebus couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ve met Amphitrite. I’m not surprised.” The priestess laughed again and nodded.
“I can’t say I blame her. My father didn’t have a great reputation in the village and had debts. There were some unsavory characters who felt that the only way to get what they were owed was through my mother.” The priestess’s expression tightened, and Erebus knew that she wasn’t talking about her mother working off the debt.
“I’m sorry,” Erebus offered, but she held up a hand.
“There is no need. Nyx heard that one of her acolyte’s last descendants was pregnant and in peril, and she came up from Tartarus.” Erebus felt himself freeze. The priestess stopped moving around the room, pausing and looking up at the statue as she finished her story in a reverent tone.
“Nyx arrived in the village not a moment too soon. There were already men at our door, but she turned off the stars and the moon. They couldn’t see and stumbled over one another. Nyx hid my mother under the cover of nightfall and refused to let Helios rise until my mother had safely made it all the way here. To the last temple.”
“You were born here?” Erebus looked at the Priestess and back up at the statue of his consort. She smiled and nodded, a proud expression crossing her face.
“I was. When my mother arrived, there were only two other women here. They raised me here. Now…” Her voice trailed off as she looked up to the rafters, a wistful expression on her face. “I am the only one left.”
Erebus was struck dumb, staring around the massive hall as he reeled with the revelation of the priestess’s story. He didn’t know that there was only one priestess left. Thelastpriestess. He wasn’t surprised that Nyx had moved hell on earth—quite literally—to get a woman to safety. This was why he was doing this, wasn’t it? She deserved all her temples restored…
“I would disagree.” The priestess’s voice cut through Erebus’s thoughts as he turned to look at her.
