Chapter Companion
COMPANION
TRIVIA
The empty void consumed Trivia’s entire being, night and day. She knew nothing but darkness. She felt nothing but despair.
Her thoughts floated in and out, sometimes coherent, sometimes not. When her mind was clear, she strained to come up with a plan to meet Pandora’s demands.
But nothing she could think of would work.
And even if it could, she wasn’t sure she could do it. She’d seen firsthand the destructive consequences of unleashing a goddess like Pandora. Trivia would never do that again.
But on the other hand, Pandora would make her watch while she tortured Sol and Gaia. They did not deserve that fate.
And Trivia didn’t know if she could endure watching it, either.
It’s my penance, she thought. It’s a fitting punishment.
Her fleeting but passionate time with Sol was undeserving. She was lucky to have even that.
Oftentimes, when her thoughts were lucid enough, she returned to that perfect night where she and Sol had come together, their bodies merging in the most perfect way. They had made love all night and well into the morning, exploring and worshipping each other.
She would give anything to return to that night.
Her consciousness faded in and out. It was similar to sleep, but not nearly as peaceful. She did not dream. And time did not pass quicker when she faded.
She was still trapped in this chasm of loneliness, forever enduring her thoughts and the dread of when Pandora would return to torment her further.
She can read my thoughts, Trivia reminded herself. She had to be careful.
But what did it matter? Pandora already knew Trivia had no ideas for how to get her out of the box. That was no great secret.
And even if Trivia had some great plan of deception up her sleeve, she was far too weak and exhausted to carry it out. Her mind was sluggish and hazy. It seemed that, for every hour when she could think clearly, another three hours of foggy numbness claimed her.
How long before the darkness consumed her entirely? How long before she lost her mind and all sense of self?
How long before her body and soul simply became a part of the void?
A low hissing sound echoed around her, but Trivia ignored it. At this point, the horrifying sounds of the dark magic within the box were familiar to her, and it was quite easy to tune them out.
But the hissing sound persisted, until she realized it was someone’s voice whispering, “Psst!”
Trivia’s consciousness shifted. She tried to reach, to move her body, but she was nothing, and her body was not her own. She was just a collection of thoughts scattered in the darkness.
“Envision your body, one piece at a time,” said a voice. “It will come to you.”
No, Trivia wanted to say. That will take too much effort. I just want to go to sleep.
She prepared to drift away into that numbness that had become a sort of respite for her.
But the voice was persistent.
“If you let yourself fade, she’ll win.”
Awareness stirred in her mind again. There was so much she wanted to say to this new presence.
Shut up.
Who are you?
Why do you care?
Her thoughts strained to come together. She envisioned her toes, ankles, and feet, then her shins, knees, and calves.
A solid weight filled her as her body took shape.
She wanted to gasp in relief and surprise, but she couldn’t breathe.
A heavy weight was pressing on her lungs, cutting off her oxygen, suffocating her…
“Picture your lungs now or you’ll asphyxiate,” the voice said urgently. “Now, Trivia!”
Trivia obeyed, quickly envisioning her stomach and torso, followed by her lungs and throat.
A whoosh of air filled her lungs as she inhaled a rattling breath.
She gasped deeply, the rush of oxygen almost painful to her now corporeal body.
She envisioned her arms, elbows, wrists, and fingers.
Then her shoulders, chin, nose, forehead, hair, and ears.
One by one, she pictured each part of her body, then checked to ensure it had solidified.
Her fingers wiggled. Her legs shifted. She raised her shoulders, then extended her arms.
“Am I here?” she croaked.
“Yes.” A dark shape hovered in front of her, but she couldn’t make out their face. The deep voice was vaguely familiar, though, like someone she had only encountered once or twice in her lifetime.
“How did you know how to do that?” Trivia asked, frowning as she squinted at the blurry shape before her. “Who are you?”
“A companion,” said the voice. “Someone who has been sentenced to the same fate as you.”
Trivia stiffened. Anyone who was here with her could not be trusted. All manner of dark magic existed in this place.
“Rest assured I am no friend of Pandora’s,” the voice said, disgust tainting their tone. “I wish to destroy her and escape this place. Will you work with me? If you do, I promise to bring you with me.”
Trivia hesitated. She didn’t trust this entity, whoever they were. And the deal seemed too easy. “What would I have to do?” she hedged. Years of being manipulated by Pandora taught her to be more cautious when accepting help from someone powerful.
“You will need to train your mind to shield from her,” the voice said. “Once you do that, we can plan. I have been here for a long time, and I have discovered how to reach the magic lurking inside the box.”
A chill whispered over Trivia’s skin, and she inched away from the stranger. “No. It’s too dangerous. The darkness in here… It feasts on everything.”
“I have found a way to weave wards around it,” said the voice. “I’ve been here practicing for quite a while, Trivia. It works.”
Spell-weaving? Trivia’s brow furrowed, and her skin prickled with awareness. She knew someone who could weave spells. Someone who was powerful and experimental with magic and…
Trivia jerked away, her eyes flaring wide as the figure took shape before her. The tanned skin and golden beard, the familiar kingly attire and black leather gloves.
“Midas,” Trivia hissed, her nostrils flaring as fresh rage coursed through her.
But Midas only nodded. “Your anger is a good thing. Cling to that fury, Trivia. It will help keep you awake.”
“Why should I listen to anything you say? It’s your fault I’m even in here!”
“Ah, but from what I heard from your conversation with Pandora, it’s your fault, isn’t it? You blame yourself.”
“Shut the hell up! I willingly gave myself up to save those I loved, but if it weren’t for you, I never would have had to make that sacrifice.”
“My point is, there are many layers to the truth. Nothing is one-dimensional, even in this vast space. What do you see right now?”
“Why the hell do you care? You betrayed me and my sisters. Leave me alone.” Trivia closed her eyes, prepared to go back to the empty void, but the panic in Midas’s voice stopped her.
“Don’t! Trivia, if you leave now, Pandora will know.”
Trivia opened one eye to glare at him. “What do you mean?”
“The void is her domain. What she doesn’t want you to know is that you do have a modicum of control in this place. She wants you to think you are imprisoned and powerless. But you aren’t. And I can prove it to you.”
Trivia scowled at him. She didn’t trust this bastard. Not for one moment. “Why should I believe you? For all I know, if I do what you say, it’ll bring Pandora here and she’ll punish me. You could even be Pandora in disguise. I have no way of knowing.”
Midas’s mouth pressed into a thin line as he considered this.
“You can’t trust me. There’s no way to prove I’m being truthful.
But… I can be forthcoming with you. And hopefully, that will help.
” He paused and took a deep breath. “I’ve been cursed for nearly a thousand years.
Doomed to never touch another. To never feel anything against my skin.
Do you know how miserable an existence like that is?
Do you know the burden of carrying such an enchantment on your shoulders for so long? ”
Trivia’s entire body stilled at his words. She wasn’t nearly as ancient as Midas was. But she did know the burden of carrying a curse she would do anything to be rid of.
“I was desperate,” Midas said. “For years, I was mad with rage and depression. I lost my daughter. My wife. I was hunted for what everyone claimed was a gift. But it was only a curse. A wretched curse put on me by that bastard Apollo.” He grit the words out, his teeth flashing with fury.
Yes, if there was anyone Trivia hated more than Midas, it was Apollo. Her father.
The word made her want to retch.
“Go on,” she murmured. She still didn’t trust him, but she wanted to hear the end of this.
Part of her was dreading it, though. She didn’t want to know how similar they were.
She didn’t want to entertain the idea that she was just as traitorous as Midas.
“When I heard that Gaia had arrived in my kingdom, I saw my opportunity,” Midas said.
“I made a plan, and I clung to it like a lifeline. It was all I had left. For nearly a decade, I had sought my own life. But the one thing my curse did not allow was for me to use it on myself. And even the blades of my opponents could not pierce my flesh. I bleed gold. Did you know that?”
Slowly, Trivia shook her head.
“Anyway, Gaia arrived. And I knew my nephew possessed sun magic. All I needed was to get you both to Elysium to channel the earth and sun magic into the fulcrum. Then, I would finally be free.”
“And you felt no guilt over this?” Trivia asked in a hollow voice. She didn’t have the energy to accuse him of duplicity.
After all, what right did she have? Midas deceived her for a few days. She had been deceiving everyone for years.
Perhaps they weren’t that different after all.
“I felt immensely guilty,” Midas said. “Guilt is something else I carry every day. It is another burden associated with my curse. But hundreds of years of training my mind allows me to compartmentalize feelings like that. To prioritize more important things instead. To betray you and your sisters was a terrible thing. But it would have been even more terrible for me to continue enduring my curse. Even for one more year. One more month. One more day. It would have been too much for me. That was more important than anything.”
He broke off, shaking his head sadly. “You are young, so you likely don’t have as much experience.
Your mind is fresh and you feel everything acutely.
Your emotions rule you. But for me, I have had centuries of practice.
That’s why I’m able to exist like this.” He gestured to his body, still floating in the dark void.
“You and I have been in the box for the same amount of time, but I was able to weave my own wards almost instantly, granting myself freedom. The whole time I’ve been trapped here, I’ve been practicing control over my body and my magic. ”
Trivia could not argue with his reasoning. The rage of Pandora’s soul as she’d lived inside Trivia’s body had been unbearable. Because of that alone, Trivia had done her bidding—because she would have done anything to be rid of those violent emotions.
“You understand, don’t you?” Midas asked softly.
“I am not your friend,” Trivia snapped. “I am not your ally. You are not forgiven.”
“That’s not what I’m asking for. I’m asking you to trust me. Just in this one small thing so I can prove myself to you.”
Trivia lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing as she assessed him. “If this works, and we get out, what will you do?”
Midas huffed a laugh as if this were a ridiculous question.
“What wouldn’t I do? Thanks to your mother and my nephew, my curse has been lifted.
I would live. I would feast on all the foods I haven’t been able to taste properly.
I would lie with a dozen women and two dozen men.
I would slit the throats of my enemies and relish the feel of their blood running down my fingers.
I would experience everything I was robbed of when Apollo cursed me. ”
Trivia continued to watch him, still wary. It didn’t feel right, to put her trust in a despicable man like Midas.
But her choices were limited. And it made sense that Midas despised Pandora as much as she did.
“I hold no vendetta against you, your sisters, or your mother,” Midas insisted. “I only needed Gaia to break my curse. She can live a long and healthy life, for all I care. I might have a bone to pick with Apollo, so if you take issue with that, perhaps we will be at an impasse.”
“Do what you want with Apollo,” Trivia spat. “He is nothing to me.”
Midas’s lips curled into a slow smile. “There’s that rage again.”
Trivia closed her eyes as she was inexplicably reminded of the way Sol had described her fire and how he had yearned for it to consume him entirely.
Gods, she missed him. More than anything else, she longed for him.
If Midas was telling the truth, not only could Trivia spare Sol from Pandora’s darkness… but she could be reunited with him again. She would get a second chance at happiness.
They could be together. They could create a life with one another.
The idea felt too good to be true. A paradise Trivia did not deserve.
This was another reason she didn’t trust Midas. In her experience, if something seemed too good to be true, it was a trap.
“What is the worst thing that could happen if you choose to believe me?” Midas asked.
Trivia stared hard at him. “Pandora would find out, and she would punish me.”
“How would she punish you?”
She shuddered. “She would torture Sol. My mother. My sisters.”
“Doesn’t she plan to do this to you anyway, if you don’t provide her a means to escape?”
Trivia hesitated. This was true. She had nothing to lose.
She heaved a sigh. A kernel of hope bloomed in her chest, but she tried to ignore it. Hope was dangerous, especially in a place like this.
Instead, she looked at Midas with resignation, knowing he was her only way out.
And she was his.
With one stiff nod, she said, “Fine. I agree. Let’s work together.”