Despair was not long in coming for Orpheus, and when it did come, it arrived in torrents. The road narrowed, and became more precipitous, a great fall of black rock and ash dropping away on either side to a dark and fiery abyss that was deeper and more distant than Orpheus thought possible, but which was entirely visible.
Tartarus, Orpheus thought at the back of his mind, and it was then that he felt his fear cut deeply.
That lower landscape of horrors haunted the dreams of mortals and gods alike, and in that moment, it became a living nightmare as Orpheus walked, and played and strained not to look or to let his song fall into the despair that so desperately clawed at him from those dark depths.
Eurydice…my love…I am coming, he called to her, told himself. I am coming.
His song filled
