LYSSANDRA

  ‘’I can’t believe that they managed to take Greece’’Hermes spat out, all drunk, while we kept walking to the gardens of one of the palaces of that strange kingdom. It was very harsh to believe that truth, but as they had almost conquered my once home completely. But I surely tried to believe that they would get free sooner or later from it. However, I could do nothing completely.

  We were in a strange palace of a strange country, drinking to our lives content. Hermes began singing old hymns of Greece, as there were rumors that this strange country was slowly conquering them.

  ‘’Shall we do one more round?’’Herms nuzzled my hair, and I pushed him away from me as my gaze found a mountain of men, surrounding a powerful king with daggers in their hands.

  ‘’I uh…’’We were both drunk when the men turned to take a look at us and were ready to attack us.

  ‘’Shall we go back home?’’ Hermes suggested and pulled me close; however, I pushed myself far and jumped to the corpse and took his small crown. As I began wearing it in my hair, Hermes pouted.

  Turned out, the man they all assassinated was the so-called king of that kingdom. They were calling him Caesar, a man who was supposed to be a god amongst mortal men.

  Well, this new god was being buried, and everyone was wailing for him, while a new man was sitting on his throne, being called emperor.

  We were both watching his coronation, and it was so surprising to see that the people who were once wailing were now celebrating fis coronation.

  ‘’Barbarians’’ Hermes spat.

  ***

  ‘’Mercury’’I mumbled as I was staring at the tall statue that was being worshipped right in front of me by a pack of strange people in a place with the name Rome. His face belonged to a handsome man who was holding a small staff, while his feet had winged sandals, and so his tiny helmet had wings of a pigeon.

  ‘’This is…’’ I tried to speak.

  ‘’Awful, right?’’ Said Hermes in disguise next to me. ‘’Those barbarians have made me look like a joke.’’

  He was speaking with such pride while his true form was mostly half chicken and rabbit. However, his disguise was surprisingly peculiar. Short dark curls, fair white skin and green eyes all combined with the structure of a soldier.

  Their clothes were different as they were calling those heavy fabrics toga,s and they could pull everyone to the ground in one second wearing them.

  ‘’Like, look at those wings, you cannot fly with them. And what’s the name Mercury?’’

  I let out a small smile.’’People sometimes use it for poisoning. It's one touch, and they can make you insane.’’

  He stared deeply into my face as if I were kind of an idiot.

  ‘’Why do you have to break my heart with your sharp words?’’ He let out a put, and we decided to move away from the temple and the followers.

  ‘’Those people are even trying to make me god of finance’’He gasped.

  ‘’But aren’t you already?’’

  He winced and grabbed my shoulders. ‘’Dear, I am the god of trade, but I do not even dare to touch finance.’’

  I raised an eyebrow, and I pushed myself away as we kept walking. It was a strange kingdom. It felt so familiar with my own home with the clothing, gods and architecture, but also it felt cold. Foreign. Hermes told me that this place was discovered by two brothers who were raised by a she-wolf. And the god who was raised in a cave, he commented on how barbaric it was.

  The food, though, was delicious. We both sat in one of the tavern and we began drinking and playing backgammon again in secret. After centuries of wars in Greece, after a man who was trying to conquer the entire world as he knew it, it seemed that the glory of the gods was ending. As it was also with this uprising of the new country that was trying to take everything. Even Greece.

  ‘’Do you think that they can do it?’’ I asked Hermes who was still winning the games, even drunk.

  ‘’Do what exactly?’’ He muttered and began his next move.

  ‘’Take over?’’I replied and began taking my move.

  ‘’Does it really matter now what I think?’’He explained, and one final action from him made it clear that he was still winning. He still had power; people worshipped him no matter what. Whatever his name will be, they will always remember him.

  I remember a strange dream that I had thousands of years ago. About a world burning into nothingness. Maybe that was it because those people won. Or maybe because they lost. No matter what, it was easy to see that this country would shift the entire world into a blaze.

  ‘’Drink’’he said, pointing at my cup.

  It was just wine. Even his ideas of punishment became poor-tasting and boring.

  Maybe humanity had achieved so many things that it became even better at tricking and deceiving than the gods themselves.

  ‘’Another round?’’He said. He was bored. He did not want another game; he wanted something else. Something that I could not give him. Maybe if I could find what he was making me forget, I might have a clear picture of him.

  From the angle of my eye, I found two women with clothes so relaxed and free that they were trying to lure any man into their clutches.

  ‘’I am going for fresh air’’I admitted and gestured my head to the sigh of the women for Hermes to notice them.

  There he was. With a lustful smile, he moved closer to them. But as they were moving their hands around them, I could see that his eyes were only staring at me with a glint of anger.

  Did he actually want me to join him? Or he simply wanted to be me instead of those girls?

  It didn't matter because I left fast and went to the nearest temple.

  There was a dream that I had a few decades ago. That I was a priestess of some sort. Worshipping someone, looking up to the statues of a god. But I could not remember which god he could be. But the emotions that I had for that kind of god were not admiration. It was pure hatred. I hated that god with all of my heart. I wanted him dead. Gone. But what god could he possibly be?

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  When I was finally inside the temple, I could see all the grand statues of each god, with the one with the name Jupiter in front. Beautiful copper carved copper altogether. I could see people praying for them, burning incense and offering fruits and all of some sort.

  If I prayed, could they even hear me? And which god shall I pray to to help me to find answers?

  And what could I possibly…

  Out of thin air, a bright feather of a peacock that I once lost appeared on my lap. A feather that Ariadne had gifted to me once.

  I walked closer to the statue of the goddess Juno. But maybe the offering wasn’t enough. So I began telling a tale.

  A tale of a lost girl who couldn’t separate dreams from old memories. A girl who wwishedto get out of her golden cage. A girl who wanted answers.

  But once I was about to begin praying, the blonde man of my dreams appeared inside my mind.

  Have you forgotten my name? He asked me and touched my face. He had such a kind smile, such love inside his honey voice. But in his eyes, there was just pity.

  Say my name, My Oracle.

  ‘’Apollo’’My voice gave up and spoke out loud. Everything turned silent, and everyone vanished with the night now having fallen.

  What will happen now? What kind of god will appear? But there it was, out of the shadows of one of the statues that had a man with a lyre, crawled closer to me. Was that a god? Could gods have faces of a burnt beast? Broken antlers on the top of his head? His entire body was covered in deformed fur as if it were once a dark wolf being torn apart by force.

  That was not a god. Fear was found inside my chest, and I began to run. Run as fast as I couldto reachn the exit. That was not a god, that was a monster. I wanted to scream, to beg for help.

  I will not beg.

  Those thoughts did not belong to me. Why should I beg? Who was that person that I was turning into? No, I am not the person that they want me to be.

  I will escape, I will escape.

  The claws of the creatures grabbed me by my leg.

  I tried to attack it with my fist as I was being pulled closer, but based on his eyes, I had no chance of winning. Will I still be alive when it swallows me?

  ‘’Get away’’I screamed, and another memory broke into my head.

  That kind, gentle man, who was helping me, giving me a garden, kissing my knuckles….why was he so angry at him? Because he lied to me. He lied to me like any other man, any god that was trying to use me, he did the same. And he offered me his life. He would give up immortality for me. Feathers of green peacocks were scattering from the sky.

  You were fooled.

  Why are you forgetting everything?

  ‘’My name is Paris’’

  As I returned to normal, I noticed that the beast was now gone. As if it had never even existed. Heavy panting was coming out of my lungs, with my head spinning with those memories.

  And slowly, right next to me, a young girl with heavy, deep green eyes appeared.

  What was Hera’s form that she chose? A chubby little curly-haired girl? The queen of the gods looked so adorable with that form.

  ‘’Third time’’The child had a husky, mature voice.

  ‘’What?’’

  ‘’That’s the third time that I am helping you’’She shouted and grabbed me by the ear.

  ‘’I do not understand’’ I whined as I couldn’t believe this child had all this power.

  ‘’Of course you don’t because you are always being found.’’

  He then pulled out her hand far from my ear, and then she touched mine with her small forehead.

  There were the memories that I once thought were dreams. I was raised in a temple, Iand was a slave. I was a fake oracle, deceiving everyone just to eat bread. But I wanted more. And I did more. So much so that even a god made of light found me and tried to deceive me with a poor disguise. I almost died. But thanks to him, I was saved. Because he couldn’t hurt me. He did not want to hurt me. Just like I didn’t want to hurt him anymore.

  But soon, I was about to die once again. And he saved me, risking his entire existence.

  Tartarus. Hermes whispered to my ear.

  I began choking as in front of me, there was a woman with her emerald skin shining so bright. Her horns were right at the top of her white hair, as if it were her very own crown, and her body was also covered with a few lighter scars.

  Just by looking at her, I wanted to cease to exist. I did not deserve to live when she was still in power. Goddess of wedlock, patron of childbirth and the Queen of heavens. One glimpse at her and I was on my knees. Looking around me, I noticed that I was in a familiar desert. Where I found the descendants of Myrto and the rest. That’s when something changed.

  Hermes did mention that I had changed. But what was it?

  ‘’You must be the woman that Hermes risked everything for’’Her voice was the echo of the skies, cursing me back from my entire life.

  ‘’Queen Hera,’’I muttered. I could not move, I could not look at her again, even if she wanted me to.

  ‘’And also the reason that Phoebus was punished’’

  Alright, I might stand up.

  ‘’Listen to me, lady, I am very tired of people blaming their actions. I did tell none of them to ‘hey, please save me and destroy the entire world’’’

  At this comment, the Queen smiled gently. ‘’Good, you stopped this act of formality.’’

  I raised my chest and looked at her with all of my strength.

  ‘’If you came here to punish me…’’

  ‘’I came here to help you’’

  I stood there stunned. Her, helping me?

  ‘’Why?’’I shrugged.

  And the Queen raised her shoulders. ‘’You were born out of wedlock. Something that wound me centuries ago deep inside my chest. And I thought that you might be different from your parents.’’

  A long pause as the queen narrowed.

  ‘’I was wrong.’’

  My face flustered, and I tried to actas ift those sharp words didn’t bother me.

  ‘’Well, I have my charms, they cannot resist-’’

  The queen kept facing me coldly, so I knew I had to stop talking.

  ‘’But I know that you are a smart, cunning woman. I despise that they are hiding this secret from you.’’

  And so she told me.

  I returned back to the tavern where I saw Hermes lying down with the two women, completely knocked out as he still had that bored look on his face.

  ‘’Get up’’I spoke as calmly as I could while he cleaned his face and tossed a few coins to the women.

  ‘’I can tell them to do more if you want’’He whispered to my ear, but I simply smiled at him.

  ‘’I prefer not to’’And I began walking away with him and holding his hand even tighter.

  His eyes were looking at me, confused as he was trying to search for what changed inside me.

  But instead, I rested my head on his arm. Because I knew now exactly what to do. I knew what I wanted for so long.