Chapter 65: The Waning Moon
Through the winding paths, Apollo and Hermes walked out of the stadium, greeted by a rising city of Athens: grey-titled roofs, ivory temple domes, steepled towers, and sun-bathed buildings. In the middle of it all stood the gigantic statue of Athena, her ever-strenuous eyes seeming to gaze at them, as if to say: "Get out already; your match is complete!"
The sun slowly rose from the horizon. The first rays of dawn shone on Apollo, illuminating his changed form. His long golden hair had turned to short brown hair. The sun insignia in his glabella had faded, with his lean figure returning to his chiselled build.
Hermes let out a weak laugh, gazing at the statue. "Whoever designed her statue has done a really great job. They perfectly captured her essence."
Their match is finished. They had decided to leave under Apollo's suggestion after witnessing some boring demigod games. The Olympics are still going on, though under the supervision of Athena.
"They sure did..." Apollo smiled, his gaze riveted on the statue.
Hermes' smile broadened, dragging him down into the streets of Athens. "I bet Athena paid them generously for their perfect job."
Apollo laughed, looking around the beautiful streets and pathways glistening in his light. "Don't let her hear you—who knows how the perfectionist will react?"
Hermes said boastfully, on the spur of the moment. "What can she do to me now anyway?"
Apollo gave him a look that clearly said, "Don't come begging to me at that time."
"This is nothing. I will deal with it…" Hermes waved his hand nonchalantly, not backing down on his words. "Now, where are we going, brother?"
"To an immortal tavern." Apollo revealed with a frown of distress. "Artemis will be joining us. She had returned from her quest and is reporting to Father now."
"Not us," Hermes corrected, freezing in his steps. "You."
"For a god of messengers, you are pretty withdrawn." Apollo said. "Artemis won't mind, Hermes."
"How are you certain?" Hermes fiddled with his fingers. "I think—I think Artemis doesn't like me."
"Of course she does." Apollo said, "Don't let her poker façade fool you."
"Artemis sees you same as me." He allowed a smile to appear on his frowning lips. "You are our annoying little brother."
"She see me as....what?!" Hermes exclaimed. His divine brain almost short-circuited with that information. "And you, brother..."
"You see my point is…" Apollo interrupted. "It is fine. And don't always worry or overthink too much. It won't do you any good, Hermes."
Hermes looked at the bright sky. Then he exhaled. "Thank you, brother, thank you for always being there."
"Now, now.." Apollo said, "Don't get emotional on me."
"Don't try to shrug it off." Hermes weakly smiled, his gloom fading. "You are pretty good with this stuff, much better than you give yourself credit for."
"Or so they say." Apollo rolled his eyes. "I am really not good at this…"
He paused for a moment, then continued in a light tone. "Anyway, today is not about me. It is about you. So what have decided…"
"About Aphrodite?"
Hermes sighed, placing his hands over his face. "Well, I realized that you are right. It is impossible between me and Aphrodite. She could never fulfil my expectations for my love—one I wished to spend eternity with. But it was painful, you know, realizing the truth. There was still a part of me that hoped otherwise."
He took a deep breath, his tone a mix of dark and light. "But I have decided to move on and follow your advice."
"Everything is for the best." Apollo smiled. "This calls for a celebration."
"It does?" Hermes blinked.
"Yes." Apollo nodded briskly. "I just decided on it."
"Oh.." Hermes' lips rose to finally form a smile, and the heaviness in his eyes faded away. "Brother.."
"Come on…" Apollo wrapped his hands around his shoulders, dragging him forward into the streets towards the immortal tavern. "We don't want to keep our sister waiting, don't we?"
"Our sister…" Hermes' face darkened. "Does Artemis really consider me like that...?"
Apollo merely smiled. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"As if I am going to…" Hermes muttered under his breath.
"What?" Apollo asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing, brother." Hermes said, immediately changing the subject. "So is Hecate not joining us?"
"No," Apollo said. "She insisted on helping Athena with the broadcast of the remaining games. She wanted to properly finish what she started."
Hermes dropped the topic, noticing the sourness of his brother.
He asked, looking around the city. "Where is the tavern?"
"The other end of the city." Apollo pointed. "It is run by the temple of Demeter, especially for the service of immortals throughout the western world."
"I heard about them…" Hermes nodded. "But I never got the time to visit."
"It is great." Apollo said. "Aunt has managed to monopolies the entire food and beverages sector of the western world with it. All depend on her. She single-handedly manages it."
"I didn't know that." Hermes wagged his fingers, slowly regaining his ever-vehemence. "Then, let's go, and I can't wait to finally visit it."
They made their way through the winding streets and long bridges, passing through colossal towers and rising temples, witnessing the brilliance of human civilization. Athens was buzzing with activity, despite it being only half past six in the morning. Humans croweded around the magic curtains, watching the Olympic Games. There was even betting going on for the demigod matches. The sons of Zeus, Poseidon, and Helios are leading it by a larger margin.
"It is amazing, brother..." Hermes sighed.
"What?" Apollo raised his brows.
"Human civilization." Hermes wondered. "They had achieved this much in a few decades with the help of us. What will it be like after a hundred, a thousand years?"
"I can give you a glimpse of the future." Apollo said. "If you want to, that is."
"No." Hermes shook his head. "That will take away everything meaningful."
"Your wish," Apollo hummed. "Then."
They walked a few more steps before Hermes stopped with hesitation, succumbing to his curiosity. "Just tell me how it is?"
"It is brilliant." Apollo chuckled and gave him a sidelong glance, as if he already knew he was going to ask that. "The world will be connected more than ever, not just ours but the whole earth as one."
"Impossible…" Hermes snapped his eyes at him. "The Gods and the Pantheons won't ever allow that…"
Then, he immediately shook his head, "No, don't tell me. I rather prefer to wait and witness everything personally. Whatever or however it may be in the end."
Apollo hummed and pointed towards the secluded corner of the street. "We are here."
They strode towards it and entered a shimmering curtain that kept the mortals from knowing of its existence. The worn-down building in front of them immediately changed, unveiling a huge tavern with a gate woven with plants and flowers. At the top of it all, there was a huge sign that read : WELCOME TO PERSEPHONE TAVERN.
"That is so like Aunt." Hermes commented, gazing at the sign.
Apollo smiled and then said, "Let's wait here. This is the back-entrance. No one will disturb us. Artemis should be here in a few minutes."
He suddenly frowned, as if he had received a bad message. "And she is carrying a bad news."
Hermes finally managed to recall the quest that Artemis went on, feeling utterly bad. He was sulking in his own emotions that he subconsciously ignored the troubles of his brother.
Apollo corrected himself, his eyes heavy. "Very bad news."
"What do you see in fate?" Hermes immediately asked, feeling the direness in his brother's tone.
Apollo rubbed his temples and shook his head.
"But, you are—" Hermes tried to explain the obvious.
"The God of Prophecy? Yes, I indeed am the great god of prophecy and even divination. But still, what is the use?" Apollo snapped. "I don't see anything now!"
He looked at the sky. "Fate is a fucking bitch!"
Hermes didn't know the true workings of prophecy. His brother had only told him that a prophecy was a blessing and a curse. It gives protection from Destiny to the fated ones and also imposes a heavy price on them for it. Once a prophecy is uttered, it is destined to fulfilled one way or another.
And he thought his brother could always pry into fate without any restrictions, but now it seems...
Hermes made a mental note to delve into the specifics of prophecy and the Fates.
"Brother.." Hermes spoke softly in an attempt to comfort him. "Artemis has returned. And see, you are worrying yourself too much right after you advised me to be otherwise." He chuckled to lighten the heaviness. "You aren't really setting up much of an example as a big brother."
Apollo looked at him, his hardened countenance softened ever so slightly, "I wish it will be fine…." He faltered.
"It will be." Hermes said. He was surprised at the situation. It was only moments ago that his brother was comforting him, but here he was doing the same to his brother—we gods really have a lot of baggage, don't we?
Apollo's gaze hardened again, though with hesitation, as though he wanted to say something pessimistic to break the optimism, but in the end he looked away, deciding otherwise.
Hermes knew his brother's worry was very justified; it was not just his pessimistic side influencing him. Artemis' quest was extremely dangerous. Father issued it to her: to scout the edges of the nine realms and collect as much information as possible on the realms.
The war initiated by Odin showed no sign of stopping despite the next realm in his conquest being Muspelheim, which is ruled by Surtur, the Primordial God of Fire. This development sent a wave of uneasiness throughout the divine realms of the gods. A war involving a primordial is the last thing anyone wants. The consequences and damages brought by that level of battle were too much.
Their father and other Sky-Fathers had tried to persuade Odin, but the All-Father ignored their attempts and was intent on his bloody conquest. The rulers couldn't sit still any longer, and they sent scouts from their pantheons to the edges of nine realms to assess the situation and gather information about war. As long as they don't cross the boundaries and intrude into nine realms, there won't much of problem. Odin would turn a blind eye to them.
Naturally, in their pantheon, the duty falls on the shoulders of Artemis, the Goddess of Hunt. Their father, though, didn't force it on her as an order but left it to her choice considering the extreme danger involved in the quest.
For reasons unknown to Hermes, Artemis actually accepted the quest. And as one might already guess, Apollo and Artemis had a huge argument. He didn't want Artemis to go on that quest, but the Goddess of the Hunt was as stubborn as a mule. It finally ended in a compromise, under the persuasion of their mother, Leto.
Apollo somehow managed to convince the Primordial Goddess of Night to grant Artemis a concealment blessing (his brother is truly the God of Miracles, isn't he?) and also granted her his own blessing as a diamond amulet of protection.
With all the blessings and powers, there really shouldn't be problems with the quest of Artemis but Hermes is not so certain on it anymore…
Hermes looked up at his brother. Apollo walked away from him and leaned on the pillar outside of the tavern with closed eyes.
Hermes didn't disturb Apollo and gave him some well-needed space. He searched for any new messages in his bag with his divinity: one from Eros, one from Hebe, one from Phobos, and so on. He picked up all the scrolls from his bag and imbued some of his travel divinity into the wind, letting it carry the messages to their pre-ordained destination.
As he watched the last scroll fly away in the wind, he caught the silver moon flashing into existence with brilliant argent light in the sky. In the light of the moon, Artemis materialized. The argent light veil unfolded all around her as she walked toward them.
The Goddess of the Moon looked no different than he had seen her last time, or so he thought until she opened her platinum eyes, which always used to be bright and pure as the moon but now were dim and filled with weariness.
Hermes' heart sank.
"Brother." Artemis exhaled; a relieved smile tugged on her lips.
Hermes appeared in front of Artemis and put on his signature quirky smile in an attempt to lessen the volatile heaviness in the air.
"It's been a while, moon girl." He said. "Hasn't it?"
"It's been eight years." Artemis smiled. "And it is always delightful to see you too, Hermes."
Her tone was so genuine, so caring, and so un-Artemis, making Hermes momentarily fall silent in shock.
Apollo peered at Artemis, his arms crossed and his brows creased together ever so slightly in concern as his brilliant golden eyes met her dimmed platinum eyes then his eyes trailed toward empty neck where the amulet should have been.
And his molten eyes darkened. The golden sun on the horizon turned scorching white. The air around them and most of the world was boiling as though a supernova was brewing within it. It also jolted Hermes, and he held his breath.
Artemis immediately ran and hugged his brother tightly. Instantly, everything cooled down in the cold moonlight. The terrifying aura of sun waned away bathed in the argent light. The blazing sun returned to its golden perpetuity.
"I am fine." She whispered. "I am fine, brother."
"Tell me everything." Apollo caressed her hair, and his surging golden eyes calmed a little.
"Let's go inside." Artemis left his embrace. "I will recount with the drinks. We may really need it."
"Idiot." She turned and looked at Hermes, who was standing there in indecision and awkwardness. "Why are you not coming?"
Apollo deadpanned at his brother. And Hermes immediately flashed to them spouting a big grin and his hands combined behind his head. Then, he looked at the Goddess of Moon up and down with raised brows.
"Get your eyes off me, Hermes." Artemis scowled. "Or you will never know where my arrows could land."
"Ah." Hermes smiled, instinctively clamping his thighs. "There is the moon girl, I know. I was almost afraid that you were some alien in her skin."
"Enough." Apollo scolded and dragged them into Persephone tavern through the swaying flower gate.
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