She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

Hermes had already left Ilysion behind when he stopped.

The blue sky and the sun disappeared, and all I could see was a dark mist.

He lowered his head and made eye contact with the person in his arms.

"Hermes," Pandora said his name, smiling, and the lingering black mist seemed to recede, "You really came here."

"I haven't run so fast for a long time." Hermes buried the tip of his nose into her hair and sighed, dawdling for a while, he already knew that she was safe and sound, so he couldn't help reconfirming, "Are you all right? "

Pandora responded softly, and burrowed deeper into his arms.Hermes let her down so that he could better wrap his arms around her.This hug was different from Hermes's tolerant and sheltering posture before. His chest was squeezing his chest vigorously, and the arms on his back and waist were getting closer and closer.Pando was a little out of breath, but this slight suffocation brought strange joy. She even forgot to explore the reason, and let Hermes hug her for a while before remembering to ask:

"Not only Apollo, but Artemis was also alarmed. Will they make things difficult for you?"

Hermes realized that he had lost his composure, and let go of her calmly: "I don't know why Apollo came here, but I will go back to Ilysion to persuade him to leave now." Seeing Pandora's eyes flashing anxiously, he The smile on the lips deepened, and the tone softened: "Don't worry, this is not the first time I have negotiated with the angry Apollo. But just to be on the safe side, you have to wait for me here for a while."

"This is...?" Pandora realized that the surrounding area was very cold.The gloomy mist that surrounded them was like a flock of lingering vultures, seeing the opportunity to approach, just to steal the heat from her body.

"Underworld," Hermes replied lightly, "except for me and the Rainbow Goddess, the gods of Olympus will never step into this realm that the sun cannot reach. For you, there is no other The underground kingdom ruled by Hades and Persephone is safer."

As he spoke, he took off the thick purple cloak and wrapped Pandora tightly: "This will protect you from the breath of the underworld."

The angel's cloak blocked the cold, and Pandora relaxed her shoulders.

"Also, I would like to ask you to keep something temporarily for me."

She was taken aback by his solemn tone: "Okay."

Hermes took out an amphora as long as his forearm from nowhere.Pandora hugged it carefully with both hands, but she didn't expect the bottle to be as light as nothing, holding it effortlessly.

"Don't break the bottle to check what's inside. I'll ask acquaintances to ensure your safety while I'm away." Hermes said as he held the double snake staff and waved it forward gently. The thick fog immediately dispersed and retreated, revealing a Blue-gray water.

The gray golden spikes on the shore swayed gently and separated, and a light boat with leaves passed through the thin mist and came ashore.

The boatman wore a cloak that half covered his face, and said hoarsely, "Hermes."

"Charon, can I ask you to look after her for a while?"

The other party unexpectedly paused for a moment before saying: "Her life has not come to an end, she shouldn't come here."

"Just for the sake of my friendship with you, do me a favor. I'll be back soon and take her away."

Charon fell silent.

Pandora knew that Charon was the boatman who carried the dead across the Acheron to the other side.She never expected to meet this underground deity in this way, let alone be entrusted to his care.

Just when she thought that Charon was going to refuse, the boatman nodded and silently motioned her to step on the boat.

Pandora stepped on the ferry with one foot, and looked back anxiously.

Hermes smiled at her comfortingly: "I'll be back soon."

The long oars cut through the water, and the shore where golden spikes were blooming disappeared into the mist together with the envoy.

After moving away from the shore, the mist thickened again.When viewed from the shore, the water surface appears cold blue-gray, but once driving between the waves, even if you look to the side of the ship, you can only see gray-white fog.The color is very similar to golden spikes.Pandora simply withdrew her gaze, staring down at the folds of the cloak on her knees.

Prometheus, the gift of Olympus, the wary Titans... The clues that were unintentionally obtained from the inside of the tree hole came to mind again.Is she a gift from the gods to the Titan Protoss in the world?The gods created her in order to win over the brother of Prometheus?Why did Hermes keep silent about this?She didn't dare to think about it anymore, wrapped the angel's cloak tighter, and quickly glanced at the boatman on the Styx River.

Charon remained silent.

The light boat passed through the mist silently for a while, and stopped still.

Pandora hugged the amphora helplessly, and cautiously raised her head to look at Charon.

Charon stood at the stern of the boat with his oars, and said calmly: "Except for my ferry, no one can reach the center of Lake Acheron. The rest is to wait for Hermes to return, and I will send you to the shore."

Pandora showed surprise, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Lake Acheron? I thought Acheron was a river."

"Both a lake and a river." Charon replied succinctly.Then, as if to pre-empt any other questions she might have, he reached up and took off the hood of his cloak.

An old and forbidding face appeared under the hood.The Styx boatman had extremely prominent cheekbones, thin cheeks, a disheveled white beard, and extremely bright blue-gray eyes, as if there were blazing flames burning in the pupils.

Pandora was stunned for a moment, but she didn't look away, and instead asked another question: "You ferry the dead, but now because I stop here, what should you do for people who are waiting to cross the river?"

Charon answered irrelevantly: "You are not afraid of me."

"Should I be afraid of you?" Pandora asked with a smile.It was a smile that mixed worldly slyness with innocent curiosity.

"Passengers on this ship will be terrified after seeing my face."

"But you have no ill intentions toward me."

In some respects, Pandora already has knowledge and skills beyond those of her peers.But in other ways, she simply did not know how to be bound by thinking.Such as beauty and ugliness, such as the moral right and wrong of mortals, she understands these concepts, but is not influenced by them emotions and judgments.The gray pupils bestowed by Athena allowed her to see deeper.

Charon stared at Pandora silently for a moment, then propped the oars to drive the boat forward again.

The opposite shore becomes faintly visible between a few strokes of the oars.There are many figures on the left bank, while the right bank is surrounded by dim fog, making it difficult to see clearly.The riverbed that divides the two banks gradually becomes flatter, and the water finally flows into the green gray lake where the boat is parked.

"Acheron, the river of misery, divides this bank from the other bank, and both flow into this lake named Acheron with the river of lamentation. And my job is to collect a silver coin for the boat fare from the dead who come to the left bank, and give them Drink the water of the Forgotten River Leather, and finally lead them across to the Field of Golden Spikes on the other side."

Charon's patient explanation made Pandora feel that no one had ever asked him these things, but he was not unwilling to introduce the intricate water system of the underworld to the passengers.

Upon closer inspection, countless gray shadows floated above the Acheron River.Each level has a small boat that is exactly the same as Pandora's, and an old man who looks exactly like Charon is standing at the stern with long oars.

Without exception, there is only one passenger per ship.Pandora couldn't see the faces of the ferry passengers clearly, and those crossing the river seemed to be completely unaware of each other's existence, even if they overlapped in one place, they didn't respond.

"Those boatmen...are you also?"

Charon smiled.He looks scarier when he smiles than when he doesn't: "Of course. I'm the one who led those people across the river, and I'm the one who talks to you here. It's just that some of the 'I's' do nothing but Collecting money, making them forget everything, and rowing."

Hermes never explained the nature of the gods to Pandora in detail.But judging from what she witnessed that day, it is not difficult to judge that both Olympus and the gods under the earth can exist in many places at the same time.The difference lies only in the strength of individual strength.

Charon's attitude was calm, and Pandora couldn't help asking: "Although it may not make any difference to you, why don't you use a larger boat to carry many people across the river at the same time?"

"For at the time of death every mortal is and must be alone."

Pandora's eyes flickered, and she pursed her lips.

Elysion is the blessed place of the past. The dream fragments she strays into from time to time are the forgotten past of the deceased, including the memories of the last moments. Death is still a distant and abstract term for her.

"Then one day, will I take your boat to cross to the other side of Acheron alone?"

Charon didn't answer right away.His rough voice softened slightly because of slowing down: "Yes. But you are still young, and it should be many years later."

The time since her birth can only be counted in days. "Many years" is only a little closer to death.Even if she really came to the underworld and witnessed the dead crossing the river of misery, Pandora still couldn't imagine what her final death would be like.Besides, she has no idea what awaits her in a life that hasn't officially started yet.

Seeing Pandora's silence for a long time, Charon rowed the oars away from the banks of Acheron again, and his faint voice passed her side together with the mist, like a sigh: "Hermes hasn't come back yet, while I'm waiting, I might as well bring you Take a look at the other rivers in the underworld."

■

Some time earlier, on the ground, near the entrance to Ilysion, Apollo's carriage hovered in the air, and a blond-haired, blue-eyed god stood at the front of the carriage, waiting for something.

He turned his head abruptly, and said coldly to the figure that suddenly appeared: "Hermes."

The voice of the messenger of the gods was more like chatting: "You seem to have expected that I will definitely come to you."

Apollo raised the golden dagger: "It's still in my hand."

"Even if I didn't put down the sword, I would still come to you. Artemis didn't follow? No—" Hermes glanced around and smiled softly, "I see, the God of Hunting is here Somewhere is watching me, ready to shoot me an arrow at any moment."

He sighed helplessly, and asked with a good attitude: "Can you tell me now? Why did you break into Ilysion and take Pandora away?"

"She was born to punish humans, but you want to fool around with her."

Hermes raised his eyebrows, and seemed to be amused by Apollo's straightforward words: "I don't think you are qualified to teach me to restrain my selfish desires. Moreover, you are not interested in this plan, and you want to urge me to get her out of here quickly." You shouldn't be the one who brought it back to Olympus."

"Pandora doesn't need my gift, so I wasn't there when she was born. But I foresee a future where you will continue to be entangled with her."

Hermes narrowed his eyes, and his tone was still casual: "Is that the future that is unfortunate enough to alarm the God of Prophecy?"

"I know you're going to steal the secret wine, but I don't have time to stop you."

"The accusation is baseless. I didn't steal anything from Hebe. If you don't believe me, you can search your body."

Apollo laughed angrily: "Of course it is no longer in your hands now. What are you going to do with the stolen wine? Extend your stay in Ilysion again? Or even...give it to those who are not eligible for eternal life who?"

Hermes just smiled, looking too lazy to argue.

"But Immortal Food and Secret Wine can only be regarded as minor details. Pandora's staying by your side will bring serious consequences. I expected that you would resist, so I planned to take her away while you were not around."

"If the consequences are really that serious, then you might as well skip the foreshadowing. Please use the oracle tongue handed over by Phoebe to tell me directly what you saw with the omniscient eye bestowed by Zeus."

"I can't fully see the whole picture of that future, and I can't figure out how to get to that step. This is extremely abnormal. I see—" Apollo's eyes are blue and strange, and the weight of his soft words is also Subtle changes suddenly occurred, like reciting a poem, and each syllable implied oppression:

"Black snow fell from Olympus, and thunder fell from the throne of the sky."

There was a pause.

Apollo stared blankly at a point behind Hermes, gazing at what only he could see.

"There is no mortal in the world who recites the name of Hermes."