“Eyes… As lifeless as paper… Only dust… falls off.”
Dionysus shut his mouth tight. The woman who turned to white bones, Ariadne, is dead. Breathing in his arms, she begged him to forget her.
“Please burn it. Please remove all traces of our home along with this body. And forget me. I don’t want to be your pain even after I die.”
He had also heard her reprimanding him like this on the Styx River.
“You made a deal with me.” The dead woman shed tears of blood. “Your obsession is holding me back like this when I’m dead.”
She questioned his love. Dionysus could tell her about it as much as she likes. About how much he loves her. How much he longs for and misses her. Tears gleaming like diamonds fell over the white bones. Dionysus sobbed and buried his hands in his wife’s body. Sparks shot out. The ones that had fallen into the barren thorax burned as red as a beating heart. Dionysus watched the sparks spread to flames and burn. The shabby remains of Ariadne turned to ashes and soared into the sky.
Dionysus no longer remembered her face. There was left neither the blood-tears spilling face nor the dark snow that he saw in his dream. He couldn’t even remember her voice asking if he loved her.
It was a glorious day. It marks the cremation ceremony that took away his old love. Dionysus sank in the fire.
The wind drove the fire into the dry forest and spread to tree vines, burning with acrimony as if to purify his tenacity. he could hear the spirit of the tree groaning painfully. A Moussa disappeared into the shadows with sad eyes. The wooden pillars supporting the roof of the temple were eaten away by fire. The building creaked dangerously. Smoke gathered from the ceiling of the inner chamber of the temple, where Eutostea was asleep. Two Moussa noticed the ominous smell and licked her face and legs. But Eutostea did not awaken.
***
A crow fell on the back of Apollo’s arm. He touched its black beak with his fingers. Twenty-three to the north, five to the south. Upon receiving the information, the God took out his bow with shining red irises. The horns of the buffalo and the golden arches were wrapped in his hands. He knocked down the quiver of arrows, gathered the arrowheads so that they pointed down, and planted them in the ground. He grabbed three at once, biting it with his teeth, he ripped off the shaft of the second arrow. He glared at the darkened forest and drew his bow.
Three arrows flew off. With a scream, there was a dull thud as if a heavy sack of grains had fallen. There was an agitated atmosphere at the death of their kin. Apollo sent a new arrow flying. Before he shot another arrow, one agile fairy ran up to him with her hair fluttering and pointed a silver sword toward him. She looked like an Amazonian fighter. Apollo reflexively swung the arrow-like a spear and cut through her neck.
The fairy fell to the ground with a piercing scream. Apollo took her sword and finished her off with it. Blood flowed through her mouth and she became motionless. Wolves were howling in the distance. All the beasts felt the fairies’ grief and showed hostility toward Apollo.
“What pitiful creatures we are. we only followed Artemis’ orders, but we’re now being exterminated by her brother’s hand!” said a fairy in a mournful voice.
Apollo pulled the sword from the now cold body and aimed it toward the side where the voice was heard. Having anticipated the attack, the fairy quickly ran away to keep her own life. Apollo raised his bow and quickly took aim and released an arrow piercing his target’s heart.
“What’s so special about that human woman? What a stupid god blinded by love.”
The fairy ran away, shooting through the forest, uttering curses as she went. Apollo pretended not to hear and shot thirty arrows. There were no more fairies left to speak ill of him. All the fairies sent by Artemis were dead. They were worthless creatures that were no better than flies.
Apollo was quite content to have killed the annoying bugs. Leaving to retrieve his arrows, he put on a look of annoyance.
Artemis narrowed the search to the Pactolus River. Apollo hunted down all the fairies that Artemis sent like a crazed dog. The number of fairies killed in his hands alone was over a hundred. It was way past time for her to stop sending them if she really cared about them as she said. The goddess continued to send searchers. Her fairies were pure fanatics who would jump into hell fire if their goddess commanded so.
Apollo was fighting passively. If his bad temper had been stirred, he would have gone into Artemis’ territory and dried up all the seeds, but the reason why he only dealt with the things that came up his way here was that the more he incited Artemis, the more her anger shot toward Eutostea in the temple.
“Lord Apollo, the temple is on fire. You have to go!”
“Eyes… As lifeless as paper… Only dust… falls off.”
Dionysus shut his mouth tight. The woman who turned to white bones, Ariadne, is dead. Breathing in his arms, she begged him to forget her.
“Please burn it. Please remove all traces of our home along with this body. And forget me. I don’t want to be your pain even after I die.”
He had also heard her reprimanding him like this on the Styx River.
“You made a deal with me.” The dead woman shed tears of blood. “Your obsession is holding me back like this when I’m dead.”
She questioned his love. Dionysus could tell her about it as much as she likes. About how much he loves her. How much he longs for and misses her. Tears gleaming like diamonds fell over the white bones. Dionysus sobbed and buried his hands in his wife’s body. Sparks shot out. The ones that had fallen into the barren thorax burned as red as a beating heart. Dionysus watched the sparks spread to flames and burn. The shabby remains of Ariadne turned to ashes and soared into the sky.
Dionysus no longer remembered her face. There was left neither the blood-tears spilling face nor the dark snow that he saw in his dream. He couldn’t even remember her voice asking if he loved her.
It was a glorious day. It marks the cremation ceremony that took away his old love. Dionysus sank in the fire.
The wind drove the fire into the dry forest and spread to tree vines, burning with acrimony as if to purify his tenacity. he could hear the spirit of the tree groaning painfully. A Moussa disappeared into the shadows with sad eyes. The wooden pillars supporting the roof of the temple were eaten away by fire. The building creaked dangerously. Smoke gathered from the ceiling of the inner chamber of the temple, where Eutostea was asleep. Two Moussa noticed the ominous smell and licked her face and legs. But Eutostea did not awaken.
***
A crow fell on the back of Apollo’s arm. He touched its black beak with his fingers. Twenty-three to the north, five to the south. Upon receiving the information, the God took out his bow with shining red irises. The horns of the buffalo and the golden arches were wrapped in his hands. He knocked down the quiver of arrows, gathered the arrowheads so that they pointed down, and planted them in the ground. He grabbed three at once, biting it with his teeth, he ripped off the shaft of the second arrow. He glared at the darkened forest and drew his bow.
Three arrows flew off. With a scream, there was a dull thud as if a heavy sack of grains had fallen. There was an agitated atmosphere at the death of their kin. Apollo sent a new arrow flying. Before he shot another arrow, one agile fairy ran up to him with her hair fluttering and pointed a silver sword toward him. She looked like an Amazonian fighter. Apollo reflexively swung the arrow-like a spear and cut through her neck.
The fairy fell to the ground with a piercing scream. Apollo took her sword and finished her off with it. Blood flowed through her mouth and she became motionless. Wolves were howling in the distance. All the beasts felt the fairies’ grief and showed hostility toward Apollo.
“What pitiful creatures we are. we only followed Artemis’ orders, but we’re now being exterminated by her brother’s hand!” said a fairy in a mournful voice.
Apollo pulled the sword from the now cold body and aimed it toward the side where the voice was heard. Having anticipated the attack, the fairy quickly ran away to keep her own life. Apollo raised his bow and quickly took aim and released an arrow piercing his target’s heart.
“What’s so special about that human woman? What a stupid god blinded by love.”
The fairy ran away, shooting through the forest, uttering curses as she went. Apollo pretended not to hear and shot thirty arrows. There were no more fairies left to speak ill of him. All the fairies sent by Artemis were dead. They were worthless creatures that were no better than flies.
Apollo was quite content to have killed the annoying bugs. Leaving to retrieve his arrows, he put on a look of annoyance.
Artemis narrowed the search to the Pactolus River. Apollo hunted down all the fairies that Artemis sent like a crazed dog. The number of fairies killed in his hands alone was over a hundred. It was way past time for her to stop sending them if she really cared about them as she said. The goddess continued to send searchers. Her fairies were pure fanatics who would jump into hell fire if their goddess commanded so.
Apollo was fighting passively. If his bad temper had been stirred, he would have gone into Artemis’ territory and dried up all the seeds, but the reason why he only dealt with the things that came up his way here was that the more he incited Artemis, the more her anger shot toward Eutostea in the temple.
“Lord Apollo, the temple is on fire. You have to go!”
