The undecorated walls drew Elinor’s gaze as they proceeded down the silent corridor; she’d never felt this gut-churning sensation nor the chill that ran down her spine in the dim hallway.

Something had awakened underneath them when those names had left Apate’s lips, and Elinor could sense a restlessness resonate within her breast, yet its response only came from one of the names.

Large, ornate double doors of a golden gate came into view as they followed the downward curve of the pathway, drawing her frown; it didn’t represent Irkalla or respond to her presence, yet it did for another.

Elinor's narrowed gaze drifted to her twin’s passive face as they stopped halfway toward the obstacle; designs of highlighted shades of green illuminated her stunning, star-like countenance, indicating the source of who set this barrier in place.

“Ishtar…”

Apate, Adoncia, and her son observed them with tight expressions as her sister’s stunning turquoise irises locked with her emerald.

“We were born at the same time… Older Sister.”

Jaw locking at her truthful response, her vision didn’t falter. They no doubt had the same conclusion; this barrier was erected before their birth, yet Ishtar was given the key to opening it. Placed under her palace and only accessible through her twin’s presence, this door was never meant to be opened, and if this was a prison for one of their ancestors, the other must have been in Anu.

After considering for several seconds, Elinor returned her gaze to the glowing door. “Open it.”

Ishtar snickered, lifting her fan up to her mouth as her eyes narrowed. “You realize the others will know the seal has been broken the moment I break it… including our parents?”

“Indeed.” An excited shiver ran down Elinor’s spine that reminded her what it was like to be alive. “Humph. You’re as curious and frustrated as I, Little Sister. It is time to dispense with these lies.”

“A ball and chain?” Ishtar mused, taking the lead; her fan snapped shut to hold her back. “Can I expect you to keep your iron fist over my soul?”

A step behind her, Elinor let a sly smirk lift the corner of her lips. “Who is to say… Many things are changing, Ishtar. The true question is, how many will meet us at the assembly?”

“Hmm-hmm. Knowing your reputation as Irkalla,” her sister mused, celestial eyes tilting toward her in their advance, “few would wish to explain their lies and brave whatever awaits them beyond the walls of your protection… Oops, I should have said confinement. Hehe.”

Fingernails digging into her palm, Elinor didn’t know if she should be concerned that she and Ishtar were getting along so well. Ahead, the doors only grew brighter with their even pace, making the three that followed behind—god, undead, and Primordial alike—quake at the enormous power resonating from the seal.

“Do I sense a change of tune since you discovered how low your domain has fallen, Little Sister?”

“A change in tactic,” she crisply returned. “I am not so childish as to pout at my loss… though this bi-polar shift between the personalities of my past lives is turning out to be aggravating. I expect you will have a solution to this when we return; else, how can you trust me?”

Elinor caught a slight smile on her sister’s side-long look, amusing her. “How crafty.”

Namtar increased his stride to remain slightly behind her with Apate; Adoncia remained utterly silent, not breathing as she waited to be addressed.

The trickster forced a smile. “Eh… shouldn’t you block off all the gates to stop them from escaping, if that’s a worry?”

Namtar shook his head, responding for Elinor in an expert fashion that said he knew his mother. “I am unsure how things were done in your version of Mesopotamia, Apate, but that is not how things are conducted in Irkalla.”

Adoncia listened intently as Ishtar elaborated, vision fixated on the colossal doors that grew ever larger with their approach. “This is a test to see who will remain; those who hold no allegiance to the established order will flee.”

Apate’s expression tightened. “Just because they remain does not mean they can be trusted.”

“Certainly not,” Elinor chuckled. “First, we must discover what this secret is in order to determine what the next course of action will be. Ishtar.”

“Don’t rush me, Sister,” the golden goddess huffed, reaching the door to place a hand across its surface. “No one wished to fight you for your birthright while I had to conquer all of our elders by various competitions.”

Elinor smirked, recalling a story she’d heard from her eldest at one point in her mortal experience. “Namtar, didn’t you witness her drinking contest with Enki?”

Her son sighed at seeing his aunt’s twinkling aquamarine gaze, still in the process of feeling out the seal. “The last feat that crowned her the undisputed Supreme Queen of Heaven… I’ve never seen a goddess drink so much without being afflicted. Aunt Ishtar didn’t so much as slur her words as Enki lay on the ground, passed out for over a week after.”

“Oh?” Elinor mused. “I wonder how you’d fare against Thor, Sister.”

“By all means, set up a contest,” she chimed with a testing smirk while placing a hand on her hip as her other lifted to snap her fingers, causing the wall to fracture before blowing inward. “I will not lose to any man.”

She caught the implication, which was likely half flattery, and Ishtar knew it; this new sisterhood dynamic that bloomed between them was interesting, and Elinor had to admit, she rather enjoyed it.

Ishtar had come to understand their power dynamics yet also grasped her personality so well that she doubted even her own family would have considered the end result that her sister had foreseen; she was Irkalla, which meant Elinor needed a counterbalance, and no one fit that glove better than her twin.

Ereshkigal's biggest gripe with Inanna was her lack of order and responsibility when it came to her duty, but it seemed their 10,000 life struggle across hundreds of thousands of years—much of which had been a blink of the eye for Elinor’s children with how she’d organized it—Ishtar had learned a modicum of decorum along the way.

Fingers tightening around her fan, Elinor strode into the darkness as Namtar leaned in to whisper, “Your time is running short, Mother.”

Stepping through the darkness with no fear of falling, she glided along the void as if a floor existed, a rush of cool water rushing through her the moment her foot touched the emptiness.

“Hmm-hmm-hmm.”

She didn’t need long, and the sound of colossal chains resounded underneath them with soft, feminine laughter that made them pause.

“Tiamat,” Elinor whispered, causing the monstrous, unseen entity trapped beneath Irkalla to stir again. “Do you have nothing but laughter for me?”

They tensed as something unseen moved in the void, eliciting more chains before her soft tone became baleful. “What more needs to be said, Child… If you have come to steal more of my power to maintain your flawed creation or to slay me, then get it over with.”

The power radiating from within the depths made Elinor shiver, and it was only the tip of the iceberg, considering the chains that bound her were cast by her own scales; she couldn’t break them if she wanted to.

“I am here for your support, Tiamat… or should I call you my great-great-grandmother?”

Ishtar’s tight expression was held on her as she spoke, and the laughter from the unseen entity; her son remained calm and collected, but none of them could doubt the fathomless power—Apate and her maid were utterly terrified at the Primordial creature’s presence.

The only thing keeping it in place was the united force of Irkalla, Tiamat’s own skin-like chains, and the binding power Elinor’s sustaining presence in her domain provided; it was now painfully obvious why one of her rules since birth was to never leave Irkalla, so far as to make it a part of her own soul. There was no other way to restrain her ancestor.

Well… isn’t life full of surprises, Elinor internally joked, reflecting on her status as the arbiter over the land of the dead.

Tiamat’s next statement made her frown at the revelation. “Grandmother? Heh, it has been so long since I’ve talked to anyone… eternity after eternity, and… this is what you bring me? Whoever you two are… whatever was done to you has made you more my daughters than distant grandchildren. Your power attests to that.”

“Who are your children?” Ishtar gently questioned, possibly more attuned to their ancestor’s emotions than Elinor, given their natural talents.

A snap of teeth, the rattle of taut bindings, and an incomprehensible wall of white bone instantaneously appeared before them. “I would devour my children for their sins if I were able, and you are no different!”

Elinor’s belly tightened at the torrent of suppressed, noxious breath hissed through unseen edges to whip back their clothing and hair, yet beyond all Elinor’s expectations, Adoncia stood in front of her, her maid doing her best to cover her with her trembling body.

“E-Empress! We s-s—”

It didn’t matter if one was undead or living; Tiamat was the type of creature that could devour an Existence whole, of that she was sure. Even with Adoncia’s unconscious desire to protect the last refuge of an afterlife—or the reason all those brought back were so unconsciously loyal to her—to stand between them was impressive.

Of course, Namtar was beside her, jaw locked but staring down the unimaginable maw that hovered not far from his face. On the other hand, Apate had already fled to the safety of Irkalla’s walls.

Remaining calm and knowing Tiamat wouldn’t have missed a twitch, Elinor was vindicated in her choice of the young adult maid.

She gently took Adoncia’s shoulder and guided her to the side, ignoring her wild, pleading blue eyes to return to the hallway, only for her throat to catch when Elinor turned her around to face the toxic stream of putrid wind that was purified the moment it exited the primordial entity’s maw.

“Tell me why you have been imprisoned under Irkalla, Tiamat. What was your sin?”

Through the Nexus, Elinor could feel Adoncia near the point of fainting; even as an undead—who never slept—the caged presence of her ancestor was so crushing that just her company was enough to drain Adoncia’s mental fortitude.

“Sin?! Is it sinful to seek justice for the murder of one’s partner?! What for? For your children stealing their father’s corpse to use as a foundation—a pet project—due to lacking the means to produce their selfish desire? My only sin was having pity on them!”

Ishtar's searching gaze went to Elinor—the judge of truth—to see her smile and respond.

“I have a gift for you.”

“E-Empress?” Adoncia stammered as she was gently pushed forward, and Tiamat’s enraged tone withdrew with her teeth.

The silence that ensued could kill as her ancestor retreated to consider what their entrance and words meant; after a time, a small smile touched Tiamat’s lovely tone as it returned.

“A gift… What is your game, Children? Who sent you—Kishar, Anshar… Lahmu, perhaps? I sense my power hidden within you to a greater degree than any of my children… Equal to Marduk, using Abzu’s strength… hmm?”

Elinor’s vision narrowed at the names; she’d never heard of Lahmu, but Marduk was one she’d heard from word of mouth that had Ishtar on edge; the slain hero of heaven in conflict with a great host of monsters that marched against their gates.

Her sister’s fist was white around her fan. “Marduk was slain in combat, destroying an endless sea of monsters sent against Anu with Imhullu, his divine bow.”

“Haha!” Tiamat’s writhing laughter shook Irkalla. “What nonsense have you been fed by my children? Of course, I created a horde of monsters and sent an army against Anu…

“The coward slew his father in his sleep and used his corpse to create many wonders, including the weapon he used to knock me unconscious… Marduk was born using part of my mate’s power, the same as the two of you were fashioned after me, using what remained of my skin to leave me in eternal torment!”

Elinor shifted her gaze to the hallway, now understanding how Irkalla was so impenetrable, among many other secrets that her forefathers had kept hidden regarding their craven beginnings, yet the fact her sister’s domain had been reduced to such an extent also brought a chilling realization.

She had many questions, but time was short to confront her parents, and Elinor had heard enough. “I believe you are being held unjustly… As I said, Tiamat, I have a gift for you.”

“If it is not justice or freedom, I reject your poultry sacrificial gifts. I do not care for such debase and meaningless things as living tributes.”

Smiling at her refusal, Elinor giggled with her sister; she could see the flames of war in Ishtar’s wrathful and lustful eyes after uncovering their ancestors’ plots. “I offer you a God Touched, Tiamat.”

The rattling of chains ceased as the chilling monster of untold Primordial realms paused, and Elinor clarified her statement.

“You are right, Tiamat. My twin and I were born to our tasks, unaware of your existence, and our forefathers knew we would hate one another… binding the doors in Anu and Irkalla with seals only each other could break. It was a brilliant plan, to be honest. Yet, unfortunately for them, other threats have caused many things to change.

“I cannot break you free from your chains as I am… but I can in time. Help me assist you in achieving what you deserve. I am the judge of all, and I will hear your case without prejudice. Will you accept this first act of freedom?”

The silence stretched until a shadowy, tall figure of a woman appeared just beyond sight of the void, only in outline, and Elinor could guess why; having been skinned, no matter what form she took, it would not be sightly.

An outline of cuffs and chains could be seen on her obscured wrists, ankles, and neck. “The help you seek from me?”

“I am at war with many Existences that have been pulled into a grand conflict, and I need allies, yet I am still Irkalla itself. I will not shirk my duties like my ancestors. Do not believe I will leave you to fester in this darkness alone. My children will see to whatever needs you require… if we are not enemies.”

“My children will never allow it.”

Ishtar and Elinor’s teeth flashed as the Burning Star of Heaven answered.

“They hold no more power therein after lazily handing off their responsibilities to the two of us.”

Elinor smirked at her sister. “Excuse me. Who was it that dumped her responsibilities on who?”

“I was a rebellious youth,” Ishtar huffed, returning the look. “Did I not clarify my intentions after declaring war on the High Heavens.”

Tiamat chuckled at the revelation. “You fought my children?”

“I conquered them,” Ishtar evenly replied. “No one but my twin has been able to best me in any contest.”

The blurred entity held a hand to her chin as she studied Adoncia, still trembling yet refusing to run like Apate. “Make no mistake, Children… Marduk is your equal—despite the injuries I gave him so long ago—and he was not slain. I can feel his baleful breath on my chest still, yet…

“I will trust you this once. Provide me a means to see beyond this tight prison, and I will provide what support you seek. My only concern is the capacity of this… what do you call this thing… Can it speak more than stuttering single syllable words?”

Connecting to her maid, Elinor prompted her to move forward. Do you trust me?

“Without… question, Empress. I just… cannot understand what it is we are looking at… it keeps changing, and its words are so…”

I know. I know. Even with what protection Irkalla can give you, it is challenging to even face such a titanic power… caged as she is. Allow her to touch you, and you will begin to understand who she really is.

“I-If it helps… to further your cause, Empress… I only hope if I do not make it through this exchange that my brother survives.”

“Hmm? It comes of its own free will?”

Ishtar tilted her head to the side. “Mmh… debatable, I suppose. Humans are what they are called, created by Enili.”

“Humph. Naturally, it would be Enili,” Tiamat growled, looking over the quivering maid as she stopped in front of the chained woman. “Hmm… Perhaps you could withstand the touch of a Celestial with this support you’ve gained…”

“I… serve my Empress,” Adoncia squeaked, yet Tiamat’s ponderings made Elinor and Ishtar look to each other for confirmation they’d heard the same thing; Apate’s story was drawing more questions from the disclosure. “D-Do you need me to take off my dress?”

Tiamat chuckled. “No, human, I only need your willingness to welcome my blessing. Will you carry a bond with me… Well, do you have a name?”

“Adoncia, Ma’am!”

“Hehe. I rather enjoy your responses, Adoncia. I suppose Enili wasn’t a complete failure in creating such a creature… no doubt seeking to emulate my creative gifts for his own gain. Very well, Adoncia. I look forward to understanding you further… anything to free myself of this endless torture.”

Elinor clutched her breast as Tiamat reached into Adoncia’s Core, brushing against her connection to the Nexus yet not attempting to go further than their deal permitted; the moment her clawed fingernails caressed the girl’s trembling Essence, she retracted her touch.

Adoncia’s eyes rolled back, causing Namtar to leap forward to scoop her up and retreat as the initial process of the attuning began.

Nodding to her ancestor, Elinor turned and exited, feeling Masmu—the little snake between her breasts—ease her tense coil once they were away from the titanic force.

“My children will be down when I leave to listen to your stories. Now, we will see your children’s next move.”

“Hehe. Are children always meant to be the bane of their parents’ existence… I wonder,” Tiamat mused as they exited. “I look forward to learning the results.”

Apate met them around the corner, out of sight from the doorway. “L-heh… Lady Irkalla! I, uh… I was just…”

Elinor giggled at her fidgets. “I expect you to be loyal to me, Apate, not brave. Is that the Tiamat you remember?”

Her wine-colored hair whipped left and right. “N-Not at all! She… reminds me of…”

“Your mother?”

A swallow and nod was all Elinor got from the nervous Personification.

Elinor let the silence continue as she called for Irkalla to take them to the bathing area of her palace to meet with the others; there was nothing that needed to be said by her observant son, who had soaked up everything to a greater degree than her, given his enlightened state as an unrestricted Supreme God.

Arriving at the location, she saw Thor preparing to enter the spring with her daughter’s giggling coaxing after somehow convincing the God of Thunder to change into the swimming trunks she’d crafted.

Sal, Alisa, Masmu, and Valentina—only using her fur-covering as a bikini—were already inside, grinning at the hesitant man, who had two barrels of alcohol already empty nearby; his hammer remained nearby, yet he’d taken off his other items of power.

“It’s not going to bite, Thor!” Nungal snickered, her bust keeping her anchored to the edge of the pool with one arm as her other motioned for him to join them. “I could pull you in with my chains if that makes you feel better?!”

“Thou art as pushy as Sif! Give a man time to settle his stomach after such ominous quakes… What power moves—”

“Boo! Mother, Aunt Ishtar—back already?” Nungal chimed, pulling herself out of the pool to join her. “Did you find what you were searching for? We felt that pulse earlier, but I figured it would be fine since it’s you,” she shrugged.

“Hehe. Thanks for having such expectations of your mother,” Elinor returned as Sal and Alisa hurriedly swam to the pool’s edge, seeing the unconscious maid in Namtar’s arms.

“Adoncia!”

“Is she okay?!”

Her eldest smiled at their concern. “She is just going through the God Touched process.”

“Speaking of which,” Ishtar butted in, moving to stand to the side of Elinor. “Don’t you think it is time to cease this foreplay and push to the main course?”

“Haaa…” Her emerald irises turned to Nungal and Masmu’s questioning gazes. “Explain and prepare them for the process. Ishtar, Thor, and I will leave to get answers from those that have not fled.”

Her daughter’s brow furrowed. “Fled… Why would they flee, and what about Father and Nergal?”

Elinor’s undead heart skipped a beat as she fixated on the violet-haired goddess. “What about Nergal and Gugalanna?”

Namtar placed Adoncia on a nearby sofa as he turned to explain. “Gugalanna and Nergal went on a scouting trip beyond the walls; Nergal would not leave without a companion, and Gugalanna wished to see your current status.”

“Sister,” Ishtar warned, bringing her attention to the time they had left.

Jaw tightening at the information, Elinor only hoped the Nergals from both Existences weren’t working together. “Send a party after them to return inside Irkalla, and do not take no for an answer.”

Seeing the look in her eyes, her children swiftly nodded, Namtar leaving to put Neti—the Grand Gatekeeper—on the task since he would be occupied by making Sal a God Touched.

Cursing herself for not inquiring about her husband sooner, Elinor motioned to Thor, who instantly took notice of her changed demeanor. “Throw on your gear, Thor. We have plots to uncover and a trap to spring.”

A grin spread across his red face at the prospect of combat, lightning arcing out of his eyes. “A battle I can do! I only need but a moment—”

Even as he spoke, his nearby belt, gloves, tattered cape, and other items flew to his side in a spray of electricity before Mjölnir spun into his open palm. “Where is this trap?”

Ishtar lifted an eyebrow before leaning in to whisper, “Is he taken?”

Elinor wanted to giggle at her inquiry, knowing she’d basically disowned her previous husband after he didn’t so much as shed a tear for her loss in the underworld, happy to be rid of her, but wasn’t in the mood with the prospect that Nergal might have managed to worm her husband away from Irkalla’s safe walls.

“Unfortunately,” she returned, giving her a dirty glare.

“Damn. What’s with that look? I won’t harm your plots; after all, we’re on the same team now, Sister.”

Elinor didn’t trust her sister’s temperance when it came to men and knew she’d need to keep a close eye on her; a ‘no’ to Ishtar was an open invitation to push the boundaries.

Creating a gateway, she led the way to the temple that acted as the bridging point of the Heavens since Elinor had captured her sister’s soul, putting Anu in a precarious position. Of course, now they knew there was likely another hidden plot behind allowing Ishtar to take such a brash action and their preferential treatment toward her.

They’ve been poisoning and siphoning off Ishtar’s powers for how long… Who is going to be behind the hidden door in Heaven? I suspect it isn’t Abzu.