Chloe honestly expected Tartarus to look a lot more… hellish. This place was originally a mythical prison realm where the gods locked away horrible monsters and Titans. She wasn't sure why Mom named her domain after such a spooky place, but she did know that Mom could sometimes be just a little bit edgy. Pretty sure Mom had a Goth phase too… man, I really need to find that photo album when I get back home!
Anyway, Chloe had been expecting something dramatic. Maybe giant fire pits, at least some rivers of lava, and maybe even huge chains hanging from the sky. At the very least, she figured there’d be at least one guy getting tortured in a cage somewhere for all eternity.
Instead, she and Z found themselves standing in front of what looked like the most boring and normal looking office building ever. Chloe blinked several times while staring at the sterile gray structure. The building had large glass sliding doors, and there were even some neatly groomed bushes nearby for some reason. A sign mounted above the entrance read: Administrative Building
Chloe turned toward Z with a confused expression. “Uh, Z, are we really in Tartarus?”
“We should be. However… it appears Divinity Inc. has altered this realm far more extensively than I initially anticipated.” Z said.
“Oh, can we just uh, walk in there then? I know we're not exactly on good terms with the company, but maybe we could still talk to someone at least?"
“It is risky,” Z admitted. “However, if necessary, we will simply have to fight our way through.”
Oddly enough, that answer actually made Chloe feel way better almost immediately. "Okay, that’s not too bad then.”
“You do understand that anyone we encounter here may be extremely dangerous, right?"
“Eh, I’m sure we can handle it. Besides, stronger enemies means more experience for me.”
Z closed her eyes briefly like she was trying very hard not to develop a headache. Then, she just walked toward the entrance and stepped through the sliding glass doors. Chloe immediately hurried after her.
The lobby looked almost painfully normal, or Chloe should say, boring. Bright white lights lined the ceiling while digital screens mounted along the walls displayed schedules, department notices, and scrolling announcements. There were reception desks, numbered service counters, and even those little plastic divider ropes used to organize lines.
Except the people standing in those lines looked absolutely miserable. But then again, to be fair, people waiting in lines didn't usually look excited.
A lot of exhausted-looking people dressed in ragged clothes stood quietly throughout the building, many clutching papers or small identification cards while waiting in long queues. Most of them looked completely dead inside. Chloe spotted one guy staring blankly at the floor with the kind of expression she remembered seeing in students taking finals week exams.
Meanwhile, moving around the building were what were very obviously Divinity Inc. employees. Most of them were angels judging by their wings, though unlike Z, these ones looked absolutely exhausted and probably also dead inside.
They wore matching black-and-white uniforms with ID cards clipped to their jackets. Some typed rapidly at terminals behind reception desks while others guided the miserable-looking crowds through the endless lines with the looks of people who had emotionally left their jobs years ago. These employees looked beyond tired, one angel woman walking past Chloe and Z looked like she hadn’t slept in approximately three business years, which Chloe wasn’t entirely sure was a real unit of time, but it felt correct enough that she decided to stick with it anyway.
“So are these guys gonna care that we’re here?” Chloe asked Z.
“As long as we do not cause problems, likely not. At least the lower-level employees should not interfere. Frankly, some of them are probably interns.”
“Wait, how can you tell?”
Z pointed toward a nearby group standing behind one of the reception counters. Sure enough, several exhausted angels there were wearing incredibly obvious pins attached to their uniforms. Each pin had a brightly colored smiley face on it alongside some horrifying little letter-and-number combination beneath it like INTERN-B14 or INTERN-F2.
“Man, I don't like this place." Chloe said out loud.
Z glanced around the lobby again before quietly nodding in agreement. “Neither do I, we should attempt to locate a method of accessing the lower floors. If your mother truly is somewhere within Tartarus, there is a possibility she may be located deeper underground.”
“Okay yeah, that sounds smart."
The two of them started wandering through the building while trying their best to look like they belonged there, which mostly involved Z walking calmly while Chloe tried very hard not to stare too obviously at everything around them. The place somehow kept getting weirder the longer she looked at it.
Chloe saw one miserable-looking guy sitting beneath a sign labeled Soul Reassignment Services while another line appeared to be for something called Termination Appeals, that one definitely sounded ominous.
After a few minutes though, Z’s eyes finally settled on one particular section of the lobby. Unlike every other counter in the building, this one didn’t have a line, probably because nobody wanted to go near it. A sign above the desk read: Concierge.
Behind the counter was a single exhausted-looking angel slumped forward in a chair while staring blankly at a computer monitor. His uniform was wrinkled, and the massive coffee cup beside him looked less like a beverage and more like life support. Based on his badge, this guy was named 'INTERN-U33".
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Chloe physically recoiled slightly after reading it. “Oh wow, does everybody here not have real names?"
"It's company policy, not like they had a choice." Z said.
"Well, I think it's a really dumb policy."
"On that, I also agree."
As they approached the counter, Z glanced toward Chloe. “Please allow me to handle the conversation for now.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I fear that you may potentially say things that escalate situations unnecessarily.”
“And that is extremely subjective.”
“Chloe, please."
“Okay wow, rude.”
Still, after another few seconds of quiet arguing and one very long tired look from Z, Chloe finally crossed her arms and relented. “Fine, I'll keep quiet, for now."
“Thank you."
Z stepped up to the counter afterward while the intern slowly looked up from his monitor. The intern didn't say anything at first.
“Excuse me,” Z said politely. “Would there happen to be an elevator or another form of transportation we could use to access the lower floors?”
Without changing expressions at all, the intern slowly reached beside himself, grabbed a form, and slid it across the counter. “Please fill out an information request form, someone will assist you soon.”
Z picked up the paper and looked at it briefly. “When precisely is ‘soon’?”
“Soon.” The intern said flatly.
Then Z sighed and placed the form back down. “Never mind. Thank you for your time.”
Honestly, Chloe personally felt like the intern had been super rude just now, but at the same time… the poor guy also looked like he was being paid barely anything, or maybe not at all. He was probably just dealing with this job because he had to, not because he wanted to, So Chloe decided to cut him some slack.
As the two of them walked away from the counter, Chloe glanced around before suddenly spotting something further down the hallway. “Z, look! There’s an elevator over there. Maybe we can just use that?”
Z immediately tensed slightly after noticing it. “I suppose it is worth attempting, however, prepare yourself for the worst.”
“How bad can an elevator be anyway?”
“Quite bad, actually.”
Z walked to the elevator while Chloe hurried after her, though her thoughts had already started drifting somewhere else entirely. She tried thinking back on whether she’d ever actually had a horrible elevator experience before.
There was that one time at the airport where the elevator doors closed right in front of her face and she had to awkwardly wait for the next one while carrying way too many bags, but that wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. No, the actually bad elevator memory came from when she was a lot younger.
Chloe remembered getting trapped inside an elevator at the mall after some sort of power outage. The lights had flickered, the elevator stopped moving, and younger Chloe completely panicked. She remembered crying so hard she could barely breathe, but luckily, Mom had been there with her the whole time.
Mom stayed calm while holding Chloe close and reassuring her that everything would be fine, even while Chloe assumed they were both going to perish forever inside the elevator. Looking back on it now, the whole thing had probably only lasted a few minutes at most. I really miss Mom…
“Hey,” Z suddenly called out from ahead of her. “Please focus, Chloe. This situation could potentially become dangerous.”
Chloe blinked several times as her thoughts snapped back to reality, only now realizing that she and Z were already standing directly in front of the elevator doors. “Right, my bad.”
The elevator doors slid open, revealing an interior that looked just as painfully corporate as the rest of the building. There was even a little digital screen in the corner displaying motivational messages like Have a Productive Day.
Honestly, that somehow made the whole place feel even more sinister. Z stepped inside first while Chloe followed close behind. Z moved toward the control panel and pressed the button labeled B6. Soon, the elevator spoke. "Unauthorized personnel detected, engaging lockdown mode.”
Chloe flinched a little. “Oh, that’s probably—”
Before Chloe could even finish speaking, metal shutters instantly slammed down over the elevator doors. Red warning lights lit up across the interior while blaring alarms blared oudly.
“SECURITY BREACH DETECTED.”
“INITIATING CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES.”
“Yeesh, this place is so dramatic,” Chloe complained loudly over the alarms.
At that point, she figured there wasn’t much reason to keep pretending to behave normally anymore. Time for plan B!
Lightning immediately erupted around her right arm. The entire elevator flashed blue-white for a split second before Chloe slammed her fist straight downward into the floor.
The metal beneath her exploded inward instantly as the lightning-enhanced punch tore a massive hole directly through the elevator floor. Sparks showered everywhere while twisted chunks of metal collapsed downward into the dark shaft below. Not satisfied with the opening yet, Chloe shoved her glowing hand into the torn metal and dragged it sideways while lightning ripped through the structure almost like one of those plasma cutters she saw in sci-fi movies. Metal warped apart beneath her strength as she widened the opening large enough for both herself and Z to fit through comfortably.
Once she finished, Chloe shook the remaining sparks off her hand before grabbing Z by the arm. “C’mon, let’s go!”
Z nodded. “Agreed.”
The two of them quickly climbed down through the floor of the elevator and emerged into a dark shaft. The place was lined with thick cables, metal rails, and maintenance ladders while dim red emergency lights pulsed along the walls.
Chloe planted one foot against the side wall before casually starting to walk downward along the vertical surface while Z calmly followed behind her. As they continued downward, Chloe tilted her head. “Hey, so are we just heading all the way to the bottom floor?”
“Considering we possess no better information at the moment, we may as well.” Z said.
The two continued descending for several more levels until they finally reached the reinforced doors at the lowest level. Unlike the upper levels, these doors looked significantly heavier, made of thick dark metal reinforced with glowing security seals and warning labels Chloe absolutely did not bother reading.
Z looked toward her afterward. “Would you care to do the honors?”
Chloe grinned. “Oh, absolutely.”
Flames suddenly burst to life around her right arm, swirling violently across her fist. Chloe pulled her arm back and swung it in circles a few times like a cartoon character. Then she swung.
“Fire punch!”
Her flaming fist slammed into the reinforced doors with a deafening explosion. The impact blasted molten metal and burning debris outward instantly as the security doors caved inward beneath the force of the punch.
Smoke and dust briefly filled the shattered opening before Chloe casually climbed through the wrecked doorway. Instead of some underground prison level, the room beyond looked like a massive archive facility.