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‘If you want to go home, remember, you can’t eat anything or drink anything,’ said Discordia, as they passed through a strange, underground cave forest.
Shiny red and gold fruits were suspended from black branches.
‘I know,’ said Claudia, though she was hungry and thirsty. ‘That is the first rule of the underworld. That, and “don’t look back”.’
The cave path meandered on and on for a lifetime, impossible to quantify. Claudia saw giant creatures swooping through the darkness overhead and volcanic geysers that belched egg-scented gas. She saw great dark beasts rising from the molten underworld seas, and satyrs with pan pipes hosting wild, bacchanal parties.
As they travelled, Claudia sought to know everything there was to know about the underworld, and the goddesses were more than happy to have someone to talk to. She learned that it was just as formless and disordered as the mortal realm, organized into territories where different laws and cultures had emerged. The only thing that united them was the rulership of Pluto and Proserpina.
Eventually, they reached what looked like a port, though they were still underground. Discordia told her that it was the Lake Avernus, entrance to the underworld.
Black seas lapped in through a sparkling void of a cave, with a black, wet jetty at the bottom of an enormous cliff.
Crouching behind a boulder, Claudia watched as recently deceased mortals arrived on the leaf-shaped boat, all of them shrouded in dark pallas. The dead stepped out onto the jetty, many of them still weeping and screaming, before beginning the pilgrimage up a rocky cliff face towards the palace. They were hustled and ushered by strange, skeletal guards in black robes, who carried spears and torches.
‘Why did I not arrive with them?’ Claudia asked.
‘That’s a good question,’ said Discordia. ‘We came here first, looking for you, after hearing the whispers of the shades but…’
‘You were not here, where we thought you’d be,’ said Invidia. ‘It was quite suspicious.’
‘We heard you’d died in the palace, so we went there in search of you… and there you were.’
‘Perhaps Mort set you aside.’
‘But you have no idea why that might be?’
‘Maybe you are not quite fully dead yet,’ said Discordia.
‘She must be, or she would not look this way. So sickly and faded, as if all the life has been drawn from her,’ said Invidia.
Once more, hope pulsated from deep within.
‘I will take the chance, no matter how small,’ said Claudia. ‘I must join the line and meet the goddess. Hopefully no one will recognize me until I reveal myself to her. But how will you two get inside?’
They looked to each other, smirking.
‘Don’t worry about us,’ said Discordia. ‘We may not have the power to return you to the mortal realm, but we are still deities.’
She touched Claudia’s shoulder, and suddenly she was wearing a black palla, like the other mortals on the boat.
‘We have our own ways in.’
‘We will distract the guards for you.’
Discordia clicked her fingers as Invidia nodded, and both of them popped out of existence.
Moments later, a rockslide came hurtling over the edge of the cliff, demolishing part of the path. People cried out, diving out of the way, as the skeletal guards who patrolled the jetty ran forward to help.
Claudia took her moment and darted out, keeping her head low as she joined the back of the line. The other mortals were too busy mourning the end of their lives to notice her.
She attempted to look inconspicuous, not drawing attention to herself but making sure to shiver and sniffle like the others, though she continued to feel numb. The path was promptly cleared and the queue of people pushed on slowly uphill, entering the palace in small groups.
Once again, Claudia was reminded of time’s rapid passage on Earth. How long had she been journeying through the underworld? How long could she possibly have left to revive herself? But she wouldn’t give up until there was nothing left to fight for.
Just as when she’d descended the staircase, Claudia retreated inside herself, going into a trance state until she reached the top of the cliff path and found herself standing before the palace of Pluto and Proserpina.
It was constructed from cooled lava, while the stalagmites and stalactites of the cave system came together to create an architectural masterpiece with many turrets and pillars and spires, all of them a reddish-black colour. It was sinister to behold, and yet someone had planted many flower beds and boxes, which had grown together to create a floral ivy that covered one side of the building.
