Conquest of the Underworld
"What the hell did you just say, you crazy bitch?!"
As anyone might have expected, the moment those words reached her ears, Inanna's eyes went wild with fury. Her rage scorched the air around them, smoke rising from the rubble of floors and shattered buildings.
But Ereshkigal had no intention of taking back a single word she had spoken.
"If I send you back, I'm letting two people go — you and the child in your belly. Settling for just one in exchange is me being generous, if anything."
In the Underworld, where vitality itself ran thin, one could not help but be sensitive to the presence of life. A child was growing in Inanna's womb. Her bid for the Underworld's throne was surely connected to that fact — but that was none of Ereshkigal's concern.
"You little—"
Inanna was about to unleash a torrent of curses when Sunya gently patted her back. He offered her a soft, reassuring smile, and as if by magic, she fell quiet.
He tamed that wildcat?
Of everything she had witnessed, that was what astonished Ereshkigal most.
"Lady Ereshkigal. Then how long must I remain here?"
"How long? For the rest of your life, of course."
"That would be rather inconvenient. We passed through seven gates to arrive here, so seven days per person — counting Lady Inanna, the child she carries, and myself — makes twenty-one days. Let us settle on that."
Sunya spoke with such calm certainty that for a moment Ereshkigal thought she had misheard.
"You're not joking, are you? You think the one who committed the offense gets to decide the terms?"
"If you find that insufficient, I shall remain beyond the period I proposed. But if, after I have stayed only as long as I planned, you find yourself satisfied — then please send me back."
"Sunya!"
Inanna startled, eyes wide.
"…I don't understand."
If that was his offer, couldn't she simply declare herself unsatisfied and keep him forever? What did "satisfied" even mean? Why make such a proposal at all?
As if answering her unspoken questions, Sunya continued.
"I can't be certain, but I've heard a few things about the Underworld. I suspect there may be quite a lot I can help with."
Ereshkigal stared at him with a look that all but said, Is this man an idiot?
"What are you talking about, Sunya? Why should you be the one who stays? If anyone has to remain, it should be me—"
"Lady Inanna."
Sunya took hold of her shoulders.
"Please don't worry too much. It may take a little longer than expected, but I will return. I swear it."
"Su… Sunya…"
"And just in case — don't blame yourself for this. This is purely my choice."
She said nothing.
"Until then, you must stay well."
Inanna's instincts were sharp. She knew Sunya had no intention of bending his will. Defeating Ereshkigal was impossible besides. Challenging the Queen of the Underworld on her own ground was folly enough — and even if they somehow toppled her, the consequences would be catastrophic. An empty throne would collapse the Underworld itself, and its countless dead and monsters would spill onto the surface world in a tide of chaos. That much was plain as day.
The Inanna of old would have refused outright and clung to him with stubborn desperation. But she could not do that now. Even the Goddess of Love and War was slowly becoming a mother. The child had not yet been born, and still she could not abandon its future.
If only she had realized it sooner. People, it seemed, only recognized their own mistakes when the moment of reckoning finally arrived.
In the end, Inanna had no choice but to leave the Underworld alone. Even as she ascended toward the surface aboard the sky-boat, she kept glancing back at Sunya, hesitating with every look — and the Queen of the Underworld found the sight thoroughly satisfying.
"Heh heh heh. That's what you get for acting up."
Ereshkigal settled onto her throne and cackled, savoring her victory. And yet the memory of losing their earlier fight to Inanna resurfaced, souring her mood all over again. She had won in the end, but the humiliation carved into her refused to fade.
"Is there anything you would have me do?"
Sunya asked.
She had ordered him to stay, but had given no thought to what he should actually do. Ereshkigal answered offhandedly.
"Do whatever Namtar tells you. He'll explain everything about food and lodging as well."
Then she leaned close to Namtar's ear and whispered,
"Watch him carefully. If it looks like he's about to cause trouble the way that woman did, report it to me at once."
"Yes, my lady."
Namtar summoned Sunya and showed him where he would sleep and what work awaited him.
"You'll sleep here. If you want food, go out that door — the building immediately to the right."
"I don't particularly need to eat, but setting that aside — I've heard that consuming food of the Underworld, with the exception of the Fruit of Knowledge, binds one here for eternity. Is that not true?"
"It is."
Sunya said nothing.
"But does it matter whether you eat or not? You won't be leaving the Underworld either way."
"Heh. Is that so?"
Sunya's faint smile left Namtar with an inexplicably uneasy feeling — as though some cunning scheme lurked behind that composed face. Of course, it was a misunderstanding. Sunya had merely smiled out of nervousness.
"Your first task is cleanup. Together with the other laborers, restore the roads, buildings, and palace that Lady Inanna destroyed."
"Very well."
Sunya obeyed without protest. Namtar continued to watch him in secret — and before long, his mouth fell open at a sight he had never expected.
Sunya's craftsmanship was anything but ordinary. Alone, he shouldered the labor of a thousand dead workers. He repaired the ruined roads in a single sweep, raised buildings exactly to their original designs, and rebuilt the palace stone by stone. Restoring the damage Inanna had wrought took less than five days.
"How is that even possible?"
Hearing the report, Ereshkigal pressed a hand to her forehead in sheer disbelief. For his mistress's sake, Namtar described everything he had seen and heard in careful detail.
"First of all, his manual skill was exceptional."
"You're telling me mere good hands let one man finish work that would take hundreds of laborers months?"
"And his divine authority itself seemed specialized for such things. He created a thousand hands of light and single-handedly performed more than a thousand men's worth of labor."
"Ah. Right. Divine authority…"
She had known he was no ordinary god, but she had never imagined someone so thoroughly specialized for manual labor. Ereshkigal paused a moment, then spoke again.
"What's he doing now?"
"Well…"
Being already dead, one might assume the spirits had infinite time on their hands — yet the lifespan of the dead was, surprisingly, not particularly long. Save for the gods, the beings of the Underworld possessed no capacity for reproduction. They could not eat, and they had no need for sleep — and precisely because of that, their minds frayed all the more easily. A person left without any activity was bound to fall apart. And when a spirit's mind broke, it typically went berserk, attacking other dead. Given more time, it would become a monster — or part of one.
For the dead, then, something to pass the time was more vital than anything else.
With the city's restoration finished far sooner than expected, Sunya found himself with free time — and put the knowledge of future ages to use, creating diversions the Underworld had never known. Go, janggi, chess, omok, mahjong, dice games, and more…
With his own hands he carved stone into game boards, whittled wood into pieces and tiles, refining each one with painstaking care. One might have called it trivial work, but Sunya did not hesitate in the slightest to pour his divine authority into such things. The sight of countless hands of light, each performing a different task in midair, struck even the dead as wondrous.
"Mere diversions, you might say. Shall I teach you how to play? Would you care to try?"
Time was the one thing they had in abundance. The dead took interest in the games Sunya taught them — and those games spread across the entire Underworld with startling speed.
Quarrels among the dead grew fierce as a result. From the Underworld's perspective, this was actually preferable — but Sunya would not simply stand by and watch.
"Now, now. Those of you without a game to play, don't be too discouraged — I'll tell you an interesting story."
The same gift for words that had once captivated even the Goddess of Love and War shone in full force. The dead gathered around Sunya as one, hanging on every tale he spun. Some even scratched his stories onto clay tablets for safekeeping.
Barely more than a week had passed since Sunya's arrival, and already the Underworld brimmed with life.