She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

When Meliti was almost 16, her grandfather fell ill.

It wasn't an emergency, but he was visibly weakening day by day. At first, he couldn't resist the sea breeze, and soon he couldn't get up in bed.No herbal remedies worked.

Meliti still talked and laughed in front of her grandfather, trying her best to make him happy, insisting that it was just that winter came too early this year, as long as she survived it, she would be fine.Grandpa always showed a slightly tired smile when he heard the words, and said nothing.After he fell, the atmosphere on his body eased, and the sharp eyes that had found the way to escape from the storm countless times also became cloudy.More than once, Meliti was afraid that he would be taken to the underworld with his eyes open.

Nursing patients for long periods of time is physically and mentally exhausting.Every time Elpis came to change shifts, Meliti would involuntarily breathe a sigh of relief, and then feel guilty.

Alpis didn't seem to sleep much recently, but there was no trace of fatigue on her face.

Meliti is now as tall as her sister.She grew up and became sensible, but Alpis remained unchanged.

Yes, nearly ten years later, she still looks like a girl, but now she looks like Meliti's peers just by looking at her appearance.

The villagers are extremely afraid of Alpis.Some people even swore that the old fisherman must have been drained of his vitality by the girl of unknown origin, and that he suddenly fell ill.Meliti had learned to ignore such rumors.Now Meliti's family has opened a vegetable garden behind the house, and the fruit trees on the hillside are harvesting every year.Even without fishing, they are quite capable of supporting themselves.

"If it wasn't for you, I definitely wouldn't be able to see Meliti grow so big with my own eyes."

One day, Meliti was pulling a basket of fresh chickpeas, and when she walked into the kitchen through the back door, she heard her grandfather say so.She stopped involuntarily and hid behind the curtain.

Alpis didn't answer.

"Can you tell me now, who are you?" Grandpa asked again.

Meliti thought of the same unspeakable atmosphere when her grandfather and Elpis stood in front of the woven black cloth one morning when she was young.She hugged the wicker basket tightly and held her breath.

After a moment of silence, Elpis finally spoke: "I still only remember what happened when I lived in Ilysion. As for my original name and why I came to the other side of the bay... these memories have not been restored."

The grandfather sighed softly, coughed a few times before asking: "For so many years, why haven't you left to find the place called Ilysion and your missing memory?"

For no reason, Meliti felt Elpis glance towards the kitchen.

"I am not in a hurry."

"That's right, you have many decades to take your time," the grandfather sighed again, he seldom sighed long and short before. "But we can't. The only thing I'm worried about is Meliti."

A serene smile appeared on Elpis's face: "You can rest assured."

"Do you want her to live under your protection all her life? My old face is not that thick. When my bones turn into dust, some people in the village will have to use their brains."

Elpis was noncommittal about this, and instead poured a bowl of soup for her grandfather to drink.

After moistening his throat, the old man continued: "I have a brother whom I haven't seen for many years. He runs a dyeing workshop near Mandecheng. The weaving skills she learned from you can be useful, and they will definitely find her a job." Good family."

Meliti remembered that the traveling merchant had discussed with his grandfather for a long time when he came last time.

"If I die before Mande's relatives come to pick up Meliti, can you please—"

"I will," Elpis's voice was still light, "but if that's the case, Meliti will be sad."

Grandfather smiled weakly: "Then I have to work harder and persevere for a while longer."

Before the rainy season in autumn and winter began, two young men came to pick up Mai Liti from Mande's uncle's house. One of them was an apprentice in the dyeing workshop and was deeply trusted.He is obviously the husband candidate for Meliti.In those few days, my grandfather was in good spirits, letting Meliti show the cloth she wove, and she even walked around the vegetable garden behind the house with her arms, and proudly pointed out to my nephew where the foundation of the house was and where it is now. How much to expand.

Alpis has been in the deepest small room and has not shown up.

After everyone fell asleep, Meliti went to find her sister with a bowl of wheat porridge.Elpis didn't light an oil lamp, and she sat quietly by the window looking into the distance like a statue.There was a soft sound of flapping wings, and a bird took off from nearby.Melody hesitated for no reason.At this moment, Elpis turned around and stood up with a smile: "You have been busy all day, why don't you go to rest?"

"You don't need to hide." Meliti muttered.

"It's better that they don't know I exist."

Both were silent for a moment.

Then Elpis asked, "What do you think of them?"

Meliti blushed a little, hesitated and couldn't answer.Soft melancholy lingered in her heart. Her grandfather had already opened up with her about her plans for the afterlife. Meliti was obedient to her grandfather, so naturally she had no reason to refuse.But she didn't want to think about death.Even if she had a good impression of Mande's guests, their steady breathing on the floor reminded her all the time that the fire of life of the elderly at home was on the verge of extinguishing.

"If you don't want to go with them, Meliti, you and I can continue to live together here."

"Always?"

Alpis nodded.

Meliti touched her face: "Until my hair is all white and my face is full of wrinkles?"

"Well, even if you become an old lady, it won't change." Alpis thought for a while, "But if you stay here with me, no one in the village will be willing to marry you. You won't have children, and you won't be able to give birth What friends, after all, there are only such people in the village."

Meliti swallowed, and asked in a low voice: "Can't you go to Mande with me?" Before Elpis could answer, she became ashamed: "I shouldn't ask this kind of question...you have to go to Go to the other side of the bay, go to Mande only get farther and farther from the other side."

"It's not a matter of distance." Elpis didn't explain much. Her soft tone made Meliti feel strange for no reason. When her sister called her name, she couldn't help but tremble, "Meiliti, you Do you want to stay or leave?"

After struggling for a while with flickering eyes, Meliti lowered her head: "I... want to visit Mande." After finishing speaking, she immediately added in a panic: "It's not that I don't want to be with you anymore, but if Grandfather is gone, and in the village—”

She looked up and met Alpis's smiling eyes, and was suddenly speechless.She read comfort from her sister's smile.

"Then Meliti, I wish you peace and happiness in Mande, free from disaster." After speaking, Elpis walked over, gently wrapped her arms around Meliti's shoulders, and touched the girl's forehead with her lips .There was an indescribable fragrance on Elpis's body, which reminded Meliti of the cool evening at the end of summer, which was a little far away.As a child, I don't know how many more difficult and difficult nights, she snuggled up to Alpis, breathed this fragrance and fell asleep without any nightmares.

"But Elpis, I went to Mande, what are you going to do? There is no boat in the village that can take you across the sea."

"There's always a way."

"But, if the bad guys from the village come to your door again..."

Alpis smiled.She doesn't worry about these things at all.

Meliti recalled the sudden misfortune of the family at the head of the village, and the occasional doubts that came to her mind over the years.Alpis is certainly unusual.The gods and mortals live together on the earth, her sister who suddenly appeared with the tide... Who is it?How much memory has she recovered now?The reason why she didn't leave immediately was because——

Moisture flooded her eyes, and Meliti didn't know whether she was in awe or more sad, and choked up: "Elpis, you... will always be my sister, the only sister..."

Elpis waited for Meliti to dry her tears, then gently pushed her out of the door: "Go to sleep."

The next morning, Meliti was woken up by her cousin.

In a peaceful sleep, the grandfather's soul has been guided to another world under the earth.

The cousin found firewood and ointment for the funeral pyre in the warehouse.Everything happened too fast, and when Meliti came back to her senses, the earthen jar containing her grandfather's ashes had already been buried in the land adjacent to her parents.The smoke from the pyre dissipated, and the atmosphere in the village changed subtly.The cousin also felt something, and hurriedly put the spinning tools and some cloths on the cart with his companions, and then brought food and water, and urged Meliti to set off immediately.

In the end, she couldn't say goodbye to Alpis either.

The three walked along the mountain road for half a day, and the sun gradually went down.Meliti looked back at the last corner where the village could still be seen, and exclaimed: thick black smoke curled up, and the direction of the fire was the fishing village.

"I want to go down... let me go back!" Meliti made a gesture to jump off the car.

The cousin exchanged a look with the apprentice of the dyeing workshop.

"Your grandfather is gone, it's not your home anymore."

"But there's still—"

"Mei Liti," the cousin emphasized, she suddenly realized that the two of them were not ignorant of the rumors in the village, "forget about all this, and start a new life in Mande." The cousin lowered his voice in awe: "You must have been entrusted like this, right?"

Meliti's eyes flickered, and she bit her lip hesitantly.

After a while, the car set off again, bypassing the hills and gradually moving away from the fishing village by the sea.

Behind the ridge, half of the sky seemed to be dyed red by flames.

The mud-brick and terracotta bungalows are difficult to catch even if they are set ablaze. The furniture, olive oil and textiles stored in warehouses are burning violently.Unable to withstand the high temperature, the roof quickly collapsed.

Alpis stood at the end of the dirt road in the village, not afraid of the heat wave at all, quietly watching the burning of the house she had lived in for many years.

The villagers gathered in twos and twos farther away to watch, as if waiting for something.

The wall was heated and cracked, making a cracking sound.

That becomes a signal.

The crowd surrounded Elpis.

The villagers are afraid of the young and capable stranger, and resent that only the old fisherman Pelagos and his family are favored, because they are not punished by God for arson.get out.witch.Go back to the cursed sea.Ageless monster.go to hell.For the poor child.For the cursed brother.For ten years as barren land.For the black water that never stopped attacking fishermen.This is vengeance that everyone agrees on.This is an atrocity forgiven by the gods who rule the land.

In the face of accusations and abuse, Elpis has always been calm and calm.The look in the eyes that didn't seem to be looking at them at all added fuel to the firewood of anger.

Just as when it came, the young woman who was given the name of hope disappeared as quickly as possible.

Driven by a frantic rage, the villagers killed her with whatever was at hand.They sank her body into the sea with the stones, and then threw the murder weapon into the fire, feeling like they had completed a ritual of purification.

The Perglas house burned all night.

At dawn, villagers standing near the fire to prevent it from spreading to neighbors' houses yelled.

The people who were awakened heard the sound and gathered, and they were all frightened and couldn't move:

There is a long and slender figure on the beach, thicker than the night before the dawn, walking towards the fishing village very clearly step by step.The sky was suddenly covered with black clouds, and the sky was slowly pulled up after the person who came, so as not to give the sun a chance to emerge.

The fire that had not been extinguished by the strong wind trembled, and the light and shadow on her white cheeks changed.

There were no bruises or red marks on her face, and only a strand of honey-colored hair leaked from her forehead and cheeks. Her whole body was wrapped in the same big black robe as when she first appeared. She was dry and tidy, not like walking in the sea.

Under the strong light, her gray eyes seemed to be transparent, even if she was expressionless, she gave the illusion of anger.

As she approached, the whole village seemed to be suppressed by a huge hand, and there was no sound, even the baby who was several months old was silent.

The man in black stepped on the dirt road and stopped suddenly.

A shrill scream cut through the still night, and a huge raven swooped down from the depths of the black clouds, holding a flash of light in its mouth.

The raven flew by, and on her head was a dark gold crown woven with thorns.

The black bird hovered above the fire for several weeks, gliding neatly, and landed on her outstretched forearm.She didn't answer, didn't look at any of the villagers who were prostrate on the ground, turned a deaf ear to the hasty pleas and confessions, and tilted her head to tease the raven, gently scratching the feathers on the bird's chin with her fingertips, carelessly said:

"I am not a god recognized by Olympus. I fell into Chaos and returned. The gods never die, and no matter how many times I die, I will be resurrected."

Every time she revealed a little truth, the dark crown around her became clearer.

The black shadow formed a cocoon and enveloped the fishing village, leaving nowhere to escape.

"Thank you for your efforts. I have recovered my memory and some of my strength. I haven't recovered my real name yet, but you don't need to know who I am. It doesn't matter if you curse me. It is indeed your bad luck that I came here." So saying, she He bent his lips apologetically, and it was a gentle smile, "However, I can't leave footprints."

She raised her arm slightly: "Kires, go."

The raven tilted its head to look at her, called out to the dark shadow, and spread its wings soaring into the sky.

It was over in an instant.

The shadow retreated, returning the sky to Dawn.The car of the rising sun broke free from behind the horizon, and jumped into the sky without knowing it.

The fishing village has completely disappeared, as if it never existed.Only the ebb and flow remains the same.