Chapter 5: The God of Darkness and the Goddess of Night
Judging by the standards of his previous life, Tartarus could gauge the distance of the Abyss's descent; yet, he knew that this no longer represented the true distance between the Abyss and the Earth.
This boundless darkness was not merely the absence of light; it harbored various primordial essences that he could not fully discern, as well as laws unique to the realms of Darkness and Night.
For instance—as the master of the Abyss—he could cause an object situated above the Abyss to instantly teleport from its northernmost edge to its southernmost.
Conversely, he could also exert his control to ensure that an object would never be able to fly out of the Abyss.
By the same token, deities who held dominion over Darkness and Night were now coming into existence.
Consequently, the actual distance between the Abyss and the Earth was no longer something he could accurately measure or calculate.
The difficulty of drawing upon the primordial essence of Chaos from the Earth once again would now depend entirely upon the nature of the Darkness and Night that lay between himself and Gaia.
"I hope they turn out to be deities who are easy to get along with. Of course, I could always *make* them easy to get along with," Tartarus mused inwardly.
Although he had yet to fully manifest his divine form, within the confines of the Abyss, he was the absolute sovereign.
The Abyss was, in essence, the Underworld—the realm that would later be known as the Land of the Dead. And the deities of the Darkness and Night pantheon typically resided within this very realm; whether by the threads of fate or by the sheer weight of their power, they were destined to become his close brethren and neighbors.
At that moment, the descent of the Abyss came to a halt.
"Are they about to be born?" Gaia, the Goddess of Earth—who stood poised above the Abyss—tilted her head back to gaze up at the boundless darkness looming overhead.
"They should be," Tartarus replied.
His knowledge from his previous life was limited to written accounts, so he, too, felt a sense of curiosity regarding these nascent deities.
After all, these were primordial gods—beings destined to become figures of dread and apprehension even to Zeus, the future King of the Gods.
Gaia offered no verbal response, her gaze fixed with curiosity upon the darkness above. Tartarus remained silent; he was waiting.
At that moment, a message from Chaos appeared once again in Tartarus's mind: "The world's first prophecy has been successfully fulfilled; a Shard of Divinity—that of the God of Prophecy—has been acquired."
"It seems it has indeed come into existence; yet another type of Shard of Divinity has emerged. However, the ability of prophecy is a double-edged sword; if not wielded with care, it can easily inflict harm upon oneself."
Tartarus found himself thinking of the future Prometheus.
"Possessing the power to master prophecy serves as a boon—much like the prophetic insights Zeus received through the Three Fates. Yet, lacking the strength to control it can prove disastrous—just as Prometheus was ultimately imprisoned."
"However, at this moment, I possess only the shard; I do not yet truly wield the power of prophecy itself. Ideally, I should secure it before Prometheus does; otherwise, I risk losing this Divinity entirely. But if *I* were to claim it, what then would become of Prometheus?"
"If Prometheus were to be deprived of this most vital ability, the trajectory of the world could undergo a monumental shift. Still... let me not dwell on such thoughts for now. The only constant in this world is change itself; nothing is yet set in stone."
As Tartarus was lost in these musings, he sensed two divine consciousnesses making contact with the Abyss.
This act bore a striking resemblance to his own initial attempt to perceive the Earth.
Likewise, Gaea, the Goddess of the Earth, sensed it as well.
She gazed into the darkness stretching before her, a gentle smile gracing her lips: "I am Gaea, Goddess of the Earth. Welcome to the World of Chaos; I am the very first deity to emerge from Chaos."
"I am Tartarus, God of the Infernal Abyss—the second deity to emerge from Chaos," Tartarus announced, his voice ringing out as he introduced himself.
"I am Erebus—the God of Darkness, and your elder brother."
As the words of a man with a raspy voice rang out, a figure materialized from the shadows directly before Gaea. It was a black-haired youth, clad in a black hooded cloak and robe; his frame was somewhat slender, and his countenance appeared somber.
With his hood drawn over his head, the youth's face flickered in and out of view, making it difficult to discern his true features.
At times, his body would vanish, melting into the boundless darkness; at others, he would reappear, exuding an aura of profound mystery.
The youth stood with his feet planted upon the soil of the Abyss; only then could Tartarus pinpoint his exact location.
Were it not for this contact with the Abyss, Tartarus would have been unable to sense the youth's whereabouts at all. Only when in close proximity to the Abyss could he perceive the youth's general position—and even then, only vaguely.
"This God of Darkness, Erebus, possesses formidable powers of concealment—though his demeanor is somewhat gloomy," Tartarus mused inwardly, offering this assessment of Erebus.
"Greetings! I am the younger sister—Nyx, the Goddess of Night."
A maiden's voice rang out—soft, gentle, and lilting—and beside Erebus, a young goddess materialized.
In stark contrast to the gentle serenity of Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, Nyx—the Goddess of Night—exuded a mysterious, seductive beauty in both her physical form and her divine essence.
She possessed long, black hair that cascaded like a waterfall, and a face of exquisite beauty. Her long gown—woven, it seemed, from the very fabric of the midnight sky—rendered her voluptuous, alluring figure half-hidden and half-revealed, a vision of supreme temptation.
Fair skin, delicate collarbones, arms as pale as snow, slender hands like jade, a lithe and supple waist, a shapely, high-set posterior, long and elegant legs, and feet as flawless as pearls...
Unlike Erebus, whose form seemed to flicker with an ethereal unreality...
Nyx, the Goddess of Night, stirred within Tartarus a primal urge—a burning desire to penetrate the mysteries concealed within that very night.
Was it life? Or was it death? Was it passion? Or was it coldness?
Although Tartarus had not yet assumed a divine form, he gazed intently at Nyx, the Goddess of Night, perceiving the beauty of this female deity—much as the entire Abyss itself might earnestly perceive the night, yearning to draw close to it.
That invisible, burning gaze stirred within the newly born Nyx a sudden, inexplicable sense of shyness.
Erebus, the God of Darkness who had been born alongside her, paid her no heed—nor did he evoke within her such a mysterious emotion.
Involuntarily, Nyx willed her Veil of Nether-Night to solidify completely; no longer shimmering in and out of existence, it now fully shrouded her voluptuous, graceful form, shielding it from perception.
Having just witnessed that exquisite beauty, the subsequent concealment—which rendered her neither visible nor perceptible—served only to ignite within Tartarus an endless stream of fantasies.
"Praise be to Chaos! Welcome, my brother Erebus, and my beautiful sister, Nyx," Tartarus spoke calmly.
"Thank you." A look of bewilderment flickered in the beautiful eyes of Nyx, the Goddess of Night, as she cast her gaze down into the chasm beneath her feet. "But... where is Brother Tartarus?"
Tartarus had known this question was inevitable.
He replied in a measured tone: "I *am* the Abyss; what you see before you *is* me. Before you two were born, this world consisted solely of the Abyss and the Earth."
"When I first came into being, I chose to forgo assuming a divine form—at least for a time—for I wished to experience the world, and the beauty of the Earth, with greater immediacy."
"Now, between the Abyss and the Earth, Darkness and Night have been born; the world has become a far more magnificent place. Thus, it is only natural that I should wish to experience this world—to experience the Earth, the Darkness, and the Night—in my most primordial state, wielding the fullness of my divine power."
"And I *feel* it!"
Tartarus's voice grew charged with emotion: "Upon the Earth lie the skies, the oceans, and the mountains; and within the Night..."
At this point, he spoke no further. "The sky? The ocean? The mountains?" Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, asked in bewilderment. "Tartarus, what are you talking about?"
"Just now, while I was sensing the world, my memories suddenly became jumbled. I don't know myself," Tartarus replied with a look of "confusion."
Nyx turned her gaze toward Gaia; she could discern a contemplative look in the Earth Goddess's eyes.
It was indeed a statement worthy of deep reflection.
At that moment, Erebus, the God of Darkness, spoke up: "I, too, cherish that primal state. Returning to the darkness heightens my sensitivity to everything around me. It is a pity that I had already attained my divine form at the moment of my birth; otherwise, I, too, would have chosen to remain in that primal state."
"Is that truly so?" Nyx, the Goddess of Night, gazed down into the Abyss beneath her feet, as if attempting to pierce through its surface to discern its truest, most fundamental nature.
"Indeed. Whenever I return to the embrace of the Earth, I am able to unleash my divine power to its fullest extent, and my perception of the world around me becomes infinitely sharper," Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, nodded slightly in affirmation.
Ever since the birth of the Abyss, in her ceaseless efforts to purge the primordial Chaos, she had spent the vast majority of her time immersed within the Earth—a state that brought her infinitely close to her original, primal form.
It was during those periods that she had experienced her most rapid growth and the most explosive surge in her divine power since the very moment of her inception.
"So that is the case. Nevertheless, I still eagerly await the day when Brother Tartarus attains his divine form. I sense that many of the primordial essences within the Abyss share a deep affinity with the Night; once Brother attains his divine form, we shall be able to understand one another on a far deeper level!" Nyx's voice, typically soft and gentle, now held a subtle undertone of beguiling allure.
At that moment, Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, spoke once more: "I must take my leave now. Tartarus's absorption of the primordial Chaos inevitably causes his memories to become disoriented. However—even before the birth of Darkness and Night—he had foretold that both Darkness and Night would eventually come into existence."
"What he spoke of just now may well be the transformations destined to unfold upon the surface of the Earth. Whether his words hold truth or falsehood, I cannot say with absolute certainty; yet, for the time being, I choose to place my faith in them. Farewell, everyone."
Having spoken these words, the radiant, sacred glow surrounding her dissipated, and the figure of Gaia, the Goddess of Earth, vanished from sight. "It is evident that the most powerful being right now remains the Goddess of the Earth—Gaia; she is able to traverse the darkness freely." Tartarus sensed that Gaia had effortlessly flown into the darkness, whereas his own divine consciousness was currently unable to penetrate it.
At that moment, Nyx gazed down into the abyss beneath her feet and asked, "Brother Tartarus, what lies within the night you speak of?"