After hours of searching the Elysian Fields, there’s no sign of Eurydice. If anything, being in a place labeled as eternal paradise only brought envy and slight depression because no one knew suffering here. No one fakes a smile when other people ask them how they’re doing. They’re genuinely happy.

There’s a descending staircase on the other side of the Elysian Meadows, where we find ourselves after tearing through every inch. We hurry down the steps, deducing it as a passageway to the Asphodel Meadows. The staircase are translucent silver steps that light up as we step on them. The only thing holding them together appears to be a panel of magical energy.

“Don’t worry, Orpheus. From what you’ve told us about Eurydice, she must be in the Asphodel Meadows. A pure soul like her wouldn’t be in Tartarus,” Yumi says, trying to comfort the melancholic bard trudging along slowly behind us.

“That doesn’t calm my trembling heart any more than it should,” he replies.

For a second, I worry whether he’s going to break into a song fulled of bitter separation and heartbreak. I don’t know if I can take another song. If he starts, I’ll take all the cotton I can find and shove them down my ears. And maybe use the leftover to put a cork on his insufferable music, the thought entices me as I picture ramming balls of cotton into Orpheus’ mouth so he could no longer make a sound.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Yumi whispers to me. “Orpheus is almost crying and you’re grinning like a madman to yourself over here!”

“Relax, Yumi. He’s an NPC. He’s programmed to be sad. If we felt bad for every NPC we came across, this game would be a hell of a lot longer. Besides, I’m not a masochist,” I reply, rolling my eyes.

She gently smacked me, laughing at my admission. “Do you think Eurydice is in a good place? I mean everyone knows about Tartarus and Elysian Fields as the worst and best places to be in the Underworld. If she’s not in the Elysian Fields, doesn’t that set her up to be in a place that doesn’t grant peace?”

The truth is, I didn’t know the answer to Yumi’s question. While I wanted to believe Eurydice found peace, I couldn’t be sure. I didn’t know what kind of life she led when she was alive, or who she truly was. She could have committed a lot of sins and I wouldn’t know anything of it. How do we know she died of a snake bite after falling into a nest? What if she tried to steal something that didn’t belong to her and angered the gods? Why else would Orpheus have to work so hard to find her?

He makes her out to be a good person, but what if it’s all a lie? Love often blinds people, keeps them from seeing their worst and reinforcing idiotic beliefs that they’re this perfect person. I’ve seen it in Maê, who always wanted to give people a second chance, and a third, and a fourth. What makes Orpheus different?

When I hop onto the last step, I glance up, taking in my surroundings. The area is filled with smoky gray clouds, the ambiance is somber and lonely. There’s an energy about this place that makes my limbs heavy, my eyelids droopy. Every fiber of my being is telling me to sleep. I’ve been pushing myself so hard that I couldn’t remembered the last time I fell asleep so easily.

“Mai!” Braeden gently shakes me, his voice pulling me back to reality. “You can’t fall asleep. You’d be trapped here for god knows how long. I know it’s hard to resist but that’s the purpose of the Asphodel Meadows.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears.

I shake my head, trying to clear my mind, but I couldn’t make the lethargy dissipate. Glancing around, I see Serafina tending to Mist, trying to keep him awake. Yumi is busy calling Eurydice’s name with Orpheus, appearing completely unbothered by the Asphodel Meadows’ magic. Typical Yumi. Guess it helps to have parents who let you sleep in on the weekends.

“How do you know so much about this place? Research again?” I ask with a scoff, shoving Braeden’s hand off my shoulder. He didn’t respond right away, which forces me to glance at him once more. “What? Nothing to brag about?”

He smiled, but I caught a glimmer of sadness in his blue eyes. “I lost a friend here. I told him to wait for me before going in here since this used to be a prime area where PKers lurked. He probably couldn’t wait to get out of the game and thought the announcement was fake. He was supposed to get married next week.”

“I-I’m sorry for your loss,” I stutter, taken aback by his honesty, unsure of what to say. Are there any words I can say that would comfort him? Even if his body’s still alive in the real world, his mind is destroyed. He won’t ever come back.

He seems to have noticed my discomfort and says, “Don’t worry. I won’t let his loss cloud my judgment. We have to all get out of here in one piece. Our families depend on us coming out alive.”

“Eury?” Orpheus’ voice cuts into our conversation. “Eury, is that you?”

Our gazes shift to the spectral image of a woman with long dark hair, her eyes distant. When they meet Orpheus’ longing stare, realization floods her face. “Orpheus?” she asks in a soft voice. “Is that really you?”

Orpheus is brought to tears as he runs towards his wife’s ghost. He clumsily attempts to hug her, but passes through her transparent figure, laughing to himself. Even though he can’t touch her, her presence brings light to his life as if she wasn’t dead. Their hands find each other but never meet.

“I told you I’d come find you,” he says, tears streaming down his face. “I wrote a new song for you. Would you like to hear it?”

“Always, beloved. Always,” she replies, her cheeks slick with her own tears.

The quest marks itself as completed just as Eurydice and Orpheus fade from view, no doubt to continue their story. Although their story is filled with tragedies, they eventually find their way to each other.

“Still think NPCs are incapable of feelings?” Yumi asks me, nudging me gently.

“Oh, shut it, Yumi,” I reply laughing, even though my eyes sting from watching the bittersweet scene that unfolded before us moments ago.