Before Hyacinth could quite give his thanks for her well-wishes, Hera was gone. He turned towards the ship instead, adjusting the rope around his shoulder.
Perhaps... Perhaps he should have gone to see Apollo, before this final task. He wanted to know that he wasn't doing all this for nothing. Apollo not caring about anything, especially this task, hurt.
He tensed his jaw and started towards the half-sunken ship, wincing a bit at the glare of the sun from the ice. This would all pass. He would retrieve the pendant, and the virus set on Apollo would disappear. Though... that seemed a bit too simple. Three tasks for immortality? It was far too easy as far as Hyacinth was concerned. True, they were gruelling, but it wasn't anything near impossible. Any normal human could have done it too. So what was the catch here?
Shaking his head, Hyacinth refused to think further, his thoughts and gaze on the ship far ahead of him instead.
Apollo, meanwhile, was a world away and could not care less about the Arctic, Hyacinthus, or really anything, for that matter. Sprawled across his enormous, pillow-strewn bed in the bedroom of his Olympus home, he was pouring over a world map, flicking his wrist every so often, causing a red mark to appear on the parchment, marking the countries he would decimate next. Not for any reason, of course. He merely had nothing better to do. Chrysilla sulked across the room, dejected after having been swatted away for wanting to see the map earlier.
When Hera stormed in, he deigned not to take any notice nor garner even a half-hearted greeting for the mother goddess, a slight she was not nearly patient enough to overlook.
"Απόλλωνας!" She bellowed, snatching the map from his hands -- that got his attention and he looked up, startled but not particularly upset. "What?" It was a bored tone, one he would use with Ares or Dionysus, but never, ever Hera.
"What?" she echoed, paper turning to ash in her grip, "You carelessly lie about,
( ... )
The ship was nearer now, maybe two miles or so away. Hyacinth pulled the sweater closer around him, clenching his teeth to keep them from chattering. He had never been so cold before, not even in his childhood when he was tossed out into the wilds during winter, with nothing more than a thin chiton to keep him warm. But that was then, and this was now. No point in thinking about anything but the ship before him.
He scanned the area as he walked, still suspicious of the seemingly straightforward task. There had to be a creature of some sort to obstruct his way. Or perhaps while he was crossing the chasms that yawned just ahead in his path, some beast would rise to drag him down.
Or maybe he was thinking too much.
Still, this was Hera, who had set the tasks, and it had been Hera who had tormented Heracles and Psyche after all.
However cold it seemed to Hyacinthus, the chill was tenfold for the normally heated Sun God -- the moment he appeared there, he nearly swooned. The shock of cold was so overwhelming to his body - even after he summoned a thick coat a moment too late - that all the enchantments he held over his appearance faltered and faded away, leaving him golden, trembling, and intensely worried - not for himself, but for his beloved.
Apollo stumbled and called for the boy, his normally powerful voice lost to the icy, powerful winds. Oblivious to everything but finding Hyacinth, Apollo yelled again and again, not noticing the numbness in his fingers and toes, nor the dangerous terrain he was traversing.
His frostbitten feet betrayed him, tripping over some unseen chunk of ice (or, perhaps, the sandal of a goddess) and sent him plummeting down a chasm.
Comments 28
Perhaps... Perhaps he should have gone to see Apollo, before this final task. He wanted to know that he wasn't doing all this for nothing. Apollo not caring about anything, especially this task, hurt.
He tensed his jaw and started towards the half-sunken ship, wincing a bit at the glare of the sun from the ice. This would all pass. He would retrieve the pendant, and the virus set on Apollo would disappear. Though... that seemed a bit too simple. Three tasks for immortality? It was far too easy as far as Hyacinth was concerned. True, they were gruelling, but it wasn't anything near impossible. Any normal human could have done it too. So what was the catch here?
Shaking his head, Hyacinth refused to think further, his thoughts and gaze on the ship far ahead of him instead.
Reply
When Hera stormed in, he deigned not to take any notice nor garner even a half-hearted greeting for the mother goddess, a slight she was not nearly patient enough to overlook.
"Απόλλωνας!" She bellowed, snatching the map from his hands -- that got his attention and he looked up, startled but not particularly upset. "What?" It was a bored tone, one he would use with Ares or Dionysus, but never, ever Hera.
"What?" she echoed, paper turning to ash in her grip, "You carelessly lie about, ( ... )
Reply
He scanned the area as he walked, still suspicious of the seemingly straightforward task. There had to be a creature of some sort to obstruct his way. Or perhaps while he was crossing the chasms that yawned just ahead in his path, some beast would rise to drag him down.
Or maybe he was thinking too much.
Still, this was Hera, who had set the tasks, and it had been Hera who had tormented Heracles and Psyche after all.
Reply
Apollo stumbled and called for the boy, his normally powerful voice lost to the icy, powerful winds. Oblivious to everything but finding Hyacinth, Apollo yelled again and again, not noticing the numbness in his fingers and toes, nor the dangerous terrain he was traversing.
His frostbitten feet betrayed him, tripping over some unseen chunk of ice (or, perhaps, the sandal of a goddess) and sent him plummeting down a chasm.
Reply
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