Tartarus Thief | ONC 2021 [ROUND 2 WINNER]

Chapter 6

Blinding white light greeted Vita. She blinked furiously against the glow until her eyes got used to it.

"Get out."

Vita jumped at the rough, grating voice coming from behind her. It was one she never got used to. Around her, a handful of people dressed in all-white garments hastened to follow the ferryman's order. Her hands brushed against her own soul-robes as she turned around.

"Hello again, Charon."

The unsettling grin that showed a set of brown, crooked teeth always sent a shiver down her spine. She'd never been quite sure whether it was real or an illusion of some sort, a mask perhaps. The rest of his face and body was hidden underneath a long, black robe. Even the hand that held his oar was buried underneath long sleeves.

"Out," was his only response.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped off the boat and onto the white-tiled floor of the colossal, bright hall.

The Hall of Judgement was surprisingly quiet considering the amount of white-clad people that occupied it. Most stood looking around wide-eyed, while others simply hung their head and joined the queue that zigzagged all the way up to the three judges: Rhadamantus, Minos and Aeacus.

"Get out."

As Charon ushered another set of souls off his boat, Vita started towards the edge of the room. On her way to the front, she took note of the different doors. They were made of blackened wood, as if charred. Sore thumbs among the otherwise spotless white hall. While they all looked the same, only three of them were guarded and another opened regularly to let the Erinyen through.

Tartarus, she knew. That was the one she needed.

It wasn't guarded, the door to Tartarus. After all, who in their right mind would willingly sneak into Hell? Those who went in belonged there.

The door opened. Vita craned her neck to try and see through the gap, but the Erinye who came through blocked it all from view. Only the faint, distant screams of tortured souls came through until the guard closed it again.

The Erinye walked over to the judges' marble bench, dropping some scrolls in front of them. Ugly creatures, they were. They looked like women, but their hair was made of dozens of snakes, as if to keep an eye on everything around them. Their eyes trickled what seemed to be blood and theirskin seemed cracked and torn like old leather. They held flails and whips at the ready on their belts. Despite the gruesome sight, every single one of them stood straight. Proud.

"No!"

A scuffle in front of the judges' bench grabbed Vita's attention. She moved along the wall until she could look around the queue of souls to see the screaming man. His robes had changed colour from white to a deep blood-red. The Erinye held him up by the arm, but his knees had buckled. His eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"No!" he shouted again. "You can't send me to Hell. Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Your name matters not," proclaimed the middle of the three judges, a bearded man with his hand on his chin as if deep in thought. "All that matters is your actions on Earth. And they have not been virtuous. Tartarus is our decision. Take him away!"

The man howled and cried as the Erinye dragged him to Tartarus, pleading, threatening and begging the judges in a feeble attempt to change their decision. They didn't even pay attention to him. The middle judge took a scroll from the man to his right and started reading the records of the next person in line. A strange queasiness overwhelmed Vita as she watched the panicking man being dragged by his collar through the Tartarus door. His blood-red clothes stood out sorely amongst all the brilliant white.

The noise died away as soon as the heavy door fell shut behind them. All that was left of him was the loaded silence he left behind in the bright-lit hall.

And in that silence, an idea brooded in Vita's mind.

Stealing a glance left and right, she made her way to the back half of the hall, where people stood scattered about, trying to make sense of their current whereabouts. She glanced around in awe, imitating the other souls, but kept one eye on the judges. She watched them pass judgement and send souls in the right direction, their robes changing colour as the decision was made.

Soon she'd realised that the door in the far corner, behind the judges, led to the Elysian Fields, the most beautiful place in the Underworld. Or so she'd heard. The robes of the souls that were send this way changed to a light, heavenly blue.

The guarded door on the right-hand side of the room held the Asphodel Meadows and opened most often. The Meadows' corresponding colour was grass-green. To the left, closest to Tartarus, was the way to the Fields of Mourning, where those in grey were sent to. And lastly, the door in the far back, near Charon's river Styx, led back to Earth. This, of course, was no news for Vita, because this was where she was always sent to after her robes had turned brown.

For a long time, Vita awaited her chance. With every judgement she hoped for the best, but most souls were sent to the Meadows for the rest of eternity. Had she missed her only chance already?

She'd lost count of how many times Charon had appeared behind her, when another commotion finally erupted.

It was a woman this time. And she was feistier than the man had been. Her shrieks cut straight through Vita's soul. Many others around her, especially those that had only just arrived, stared wide-eyed as the woman fought for her afterlife against the Erinye whose hair-snakes hissed in contempt. She was too late, though; her robes had already turned deep-red.

"Let me go!"

Staying close to the wall, Vita slunk past the distracted souls towards the door. Screeches echoed through the hall.

"I don't belong there! How dare y– I SAID LET ME GO!"

As the Erinye dragged the woman closer to the door, Vita joined the little group of souls that happened to stand closest to it. When the woman started screaming for help, most of them turned around, away from the awkward and upsetting scene. Perhaps they felt ashamed that they couldn't do anything to help the poor woman.

"No! Please, let me explain. I swear I don't belong there. Help me! Please, help me!"

Ruthless, the Erinye pulled the door open and hauled her through. Her screams joined in harmony with the creaking of the door that slowly fell shut. Just before it did, Vita flung her foot in the gap.

She glanced across the room. The Erinye guarding the other doors couldn't see her through the mass of people. Most souls had either turned their back to the door or were now in panicked whispering conversation with their neighbours. One boy stared straight at Vita. She threw him a grin and winked at him, before slipping through the gap and letting the door fall shut behind her.

Tartarus was gruesome, that much was clear with a mere glance. A suffocating heat and the smell of smoke and burnt flesh greeted her on the other side of the charred door. The sudden change of colours from pearly white to fiery red took her a second to adjust.

But a second was all she had.

"Hey, you there! You don't belong here, get out!"

To her left, an Erinye had turned to face her, hand moving down to grab the flail on her belt. A drip of blood trickled down her cheek as she opened her empty eyes wide.

Vita's face fell. Of course the guards would be on the inside here. Nobody would try to sneak into Tartarus, but plenty would try to sneak out.

With one last curse under her breath, Vita turned around and sprinted the other way, the Erinye on her heels.