She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

The veil of night descends on the earth, and on the Parnassus Mountains, the Saint Bondelphi ruled by Apollo becomes more and more brilliant.

Now the gods no longer live in the sky, but live on the ground with mortals.

Every Olympian god has at least one city dedicated to him in the mortal world, the so-called Holy State.Only those who are approved by that god can enter and become citizens for a long time.The residents of Shengbang are nourished by air, live longer than ordinary people, and fortunately, they can also learn secret skills.

Among the many holy states of Apollo, Delphi, the city of prophecy, is particularly revered.

Tonight, the magnificent shrine located in the center of Delphi is full of radiance, and the holy light is everywhere. No matter the streets, stadiums, or altars are shrouded in a halo of cleanliness.Wherever the brilliance goes, the filth and disease are gone.Such a spectacle can only appear when Apollo itself comes to Delphi.Residents show their gratitude by burning expensive incense all night at shrines throughout the city.Cigarettes are curling up, and looking at the clouds and mist from a distance, it seems like you are in the sky.

"Mortals offer sacrifices so hard, but you are full of sorrow, son of Leto, do you need me to give you a golden arrow to dispel your sorrow with fresh stimulation?"

Apollo stood on the highest terrace of the shrine, looking back at the sound, raised his eyebrows impatiently: "Eros."

The winged god of love and desire landed from the sky, with a smile on his face, but his tone implied displeasure: "You invited me to be a guest, but you asked me to go around the depths of your airtight underground palace first. , and now you look like you want to chase away customers, and only Hera's biological son has a worse temper than you."

Apollo didn't respond positively, but instead asked, "After meeting Epimetheus, what do you think?"

Mentioning the Titan Protoss, Eros also straightened his face slightly: "Like the disappearing black water, is it also her masterpiece?"

Apollo nodded, and twitched the corner of his mouth: "At that time, if my father Zeus hadn't stopped him, once his soul was eroded by that evil shadow, all the gods present would become like him."

"Zeus..."

"Mount Olympus has not changed."

For a long time, neither Apollo nor Eros said a word.

Eros suddenly thought of something, and looked at Apollo inquiringly.

Before Venus uttered the question, Apollo shook his head very slightly.

Eros was silent for a moment, and then said: "Her strength has grown to such a point, Ares is still busy fighting with Athena for a city? That's not like him."

"Ares doesn't know what happened to Epimetheus. He won't know either." Apollo emphasized, "Eros, I believe you will keep it secret."

"You—" the beautiful boy-like God of Cupid squinted his eyes, and smiled with interest, "Apollo, you surprised me."

"I am loyal to Olympus, and I can make concessions for the well-being of Olympus, that's all," Apollo said coldly, "The gods should stay away from everything and live high in the sky, that is good for each other."

"I can understand what you're worried about. But even if the gods can't return to the sky, mortals intend to use the power of the gods for personal gain, triggering another round of god wars, and mortals will perish themselves, so what?" The ancient God of Love chuckled Get up, "When your powerful father fought against the Titan God King, he didn't worry about what would happen to the world. Alas, don't make such an expression, even if the throne changes hands and the Olympian Protoss is replaced by some other new god, then It has nothing to do with me either. Love is as eternal as the sky and the earth."

Apollo said patiently: "Things will develop to this point, and you are also responsible."

Eros shrugged and dusted the quiver with his backhand, innocently: "I only ignite or extinguish the flame of love. The power of love is irresistible, but how to deal with love and hate is everyone's choice, how can it be blamed?" To me?" Under the gaze of Apollo, he sighed softly, turned his face away to gaze at the night scene of Delphi, which was as bright as day, and his voice spread in the high wind: "But maybe, I really shouldn't have shot that shot. arrow."

He turned his head and shook his head: "No matter what plan you have, it will be futile if she doesn't show up before the gods."

"She can't hide forever."

Apollo's tone was firm.

Eros smiled.After the rustling sound of wings stretching, Cupid disappeared.

The light that shrouded Delphi Shrine gradually faded away soon after.

Shengbang on the ridge slowly fell asleep in the slightly chilly early spring night wind.

When spring returns to the earth with Persephone, it will be another year of Ansestria Festival.

There was a cheerful atmosphere in the countryside.On the first day of the celebration, people went to the Dionysus Shrine to pay homage in the evening, where they opened the mature wine brewed in the previous year, poured the first cup of wine on the ground, and dedicated it to Dionysus.The second day was time for fun, and when Alpis came to a certain market town in a disguised form, the drinking competition was in full swing:

The contestants sat in separate seats in the open space used as a market in the town on weekdays, silently facing the wine jars that were the size of the upper torso of an adult male, and competed to empty the jars as quickly as possible.

The people watching the game were not so serious. While cheering for their acquaintances, they did not forget to take a sip from their wine bag from time to time.

"What will the winner get?" Alpis couldn't understand why she had to drink so much alcohol in one go, and couldn't help talking to the audience.

"Ah? Oh..." The red-faced villager shook his head and laughed twice, "A leaf crown, and a skin bag full of fine wine! What? You want to participate too? It's too late to sign up now. "

Elpis smiled and shook her head, then turned and walked to the other side of the equally lively open space.

"I will sing of Dionysus, son of glorious Semele,..."

The sound of singing came from the middle of the crowd, and a bard was playing the lyre, offering the audience the carols of Dionysus.His playing skills are not exquisite, but fortunately, he has a charming voice, which attracted many people to stop and even sit on the ground to listen.

"That's the way it is for festivals in small places. After a while, when it comes to the Dionysus Festival, only the guards of honor and theatrical performances in various cities will be worth seeing." Suddenly someone said loudly, his voice overshadowing the bard , immediately attracted the attention of passers-by.The person who spoke was a middle-aged man in bright clothes. The robes were painted with colorful patterns with expensive dyes, and he looked like a traveler from a big city-state passing by.Being picky was not enough, the stranger took a sip of the new local wine, raised his eyebrows and shook his head, before spitting it on the ground with a bah.

Two small-town teenagers glared at the stranger.

"how?"

"An impolite guy like you is not welcome here!"

The stranger sneered, and suddenly raised his hand.A strong light flashed on his wrist, revealing a mysterious symbol.

The crowd suddenly became commotion:

"It's a saintly man..."

"That is……"

The stranger raised his head triumphantly: "I live in the holy state ruled by the great Dionysus. I am used to drinking the fine wine given to the citizens by the god of wine, and I cannot help swallowing other wines. Are you two ignorant boys? Do you want to question my taste?"

The young man exchanged glances with displeasure on his face, but he did not refute it.

On the other side, the respectable old man in the town heard the noise, came over with a cane, and kindly complimented him, finally luring the difficult-to-please visitor from Shengbang to another place.

The crowd who witnessed the coming and going fell into an awkward silence.The blame can only be blamed on the residents of Shengbang who are really not easy to offend.

The interrupted bard plucked the strings of the harp, and started praising Dionysus from the beginning as if nothing had happened.

——What an arrogant idiot, can you eat him?

Kires didn't materialize, and muttered hidden in Elpis's consciousness.She shook her head.

The spirit of calamity simply complained: You won't let me eat anything recently, even if you eat one or two useless guys occasionally, you won't be discovered by the god of Olympus.You've got the last bit of power left to gather, so there's no need to be so cautious.

Kires don't need to devour life support beings, they're simply greedy.Elpis did not intend to argue with the greedy Daimon, but shook her head firmly again.Kiris whimpered for a while, then fell silent.

After recovering the power of disaster from Epimea, she had a clear premonition that there was only one last step left before revealing the name of the god witnessed by Chaos.But unlike before, her sense of the last remaining power was extremely vague, changing almost all the time, so that she couldn't track where the power of disaster was scattered.

It stands to reason that her final destination should be Mount Olympus, now known as the "Black Mountain" among ordinary people.That's where she and Kires originated.However, after approaching the Montenegro Mountains, she actually sensed the existence of the same origin as herself in the opposite direction.

After the black water was cleared, the Selmai Gulf resumed navigation, and the forbidden swamp where Epimea was originally located turned into an open plain. These news quickly spread along the trade routes, causing commotion everywhere.The gods of Olympus could not have been unaware of this.Hecate had warned her to hide her whereabouts before, and it is not difficult to infer that the gods are likely to have a backup on the top of Olympus.

Therefore, Elpis did not rashly climb to the top of the mountain, but changed routes and traveled around, continuing to track the erratic breath.

Leaning on the tree trunk, she listened to the hymn sung by the bard casually, a little distracted.

——In fact, you know very well where the last bit of disaster power is and how to find it.

Kires spoke suddenly, his words becoming serious.

- We have become part of you.We are you, and the conclusions we can deduce are impossible for you to miss.

-- when he stole part of our strength.

--Because of his unnecessary actions, your body was saved from immediate collapse.

Kires.She stopped softly in her mind.

But the power of calamity didn't stay silent, but urged it harder and harder.

——In front of Chaos, you said that you wanted to find out the truth of the matter in person.

-- Now is the time to show up and question the gods of Olympus.

--Why do you want to escape?Why delay?

-- Worried about lack of strength?

-- Or, have you changed your mind?

of course not.She takes a deep breath.But she couldn't continue to answer Kires' questioning.

——Aren't you worried that he has been corroded?

She looked down.

On the contrary, the erratic induction proved that Hermes still existed.

Since the return of Chaos, the recovery of scattered calamity forces, and the control of Jires, she has adapted to the code name "Elpis" and the style of behavior associated with it faster than expected.However, once the mind turns back to the last moment on the Flame Field, even if the name Hermes is recalled unintentionally, she is just "Pandora" again, those memories and emotions that are far away to Elpis Then it revived, like the bubbles floating in the spring, if you don't want to stop it, it will keep harassing her.

It made her feel weak.She was afraid that this concern would also become a tool in someone's hands.

But Kires' advice is correct.In order to avoid being noticed by the god of Olympus, she acted alone, avoiding temples and shrines, which also meant that she could not go in and out of the most prosperous holy states and cities to inquire about news, and could only wander in the countryside.Opportunities come with risks, and if we continue to be cautious, we will inevitably fall into a deadlock.

--There's a Dionysus shrine nearby, but nothing happens when you pass by.

——This shows that your breath has been well covered.

——Before Hecate showed favor to you, why don't you go directly to her temple?

While Kires was still making up his mind, there was applause and cheers from the other side. It turned out that the bard had finally finished singing the carol of Dionysus.He took a sip of his drink, plucked the strings again, and sang a new song.

Elpis listened to a few sentences at random, and found that it was a poem that she had never encountered on the way before, and it was about the origin of mortals.

"...The black snow fell, ominously scattered all over the earth, Zeus, the king of the gods, threw thunder, and the waves of rain flooded everything and destroyed all life."

Mortals have been destroyed for the third time?How long has she been asleep?

Generations change, why didn't she think of this before?Probably her understanding of the mortal world was too shallow, and the few days in Epimea were not enough for her to realize that the world was turned upside down again.After returning from Chaos, she carefully stayed away from the holy kingdom and the crowd, and decided not to inquire about the gods until her strength was restored.

No, she also missed the clues.She is proficient in the words of the gods, and should have understood all dialects in the world without hindrance.Epimea's language was different from the oracle, but that wasn't a problem for her.But when she woke up with amnesia on the beach, she couldn't understand the language used by the old fisherman.She should have noticed this.

——When mortals are extinct, they will be extinct, so what?

Kiris's reaction was very flat.

"That is the Great Flood that ended the Age of Bronze. Awe! May no such calamity befall the dark lands."

Elpis asked the spectators beside her in a low voice: "The Great Flood... how long ago?"

The other party didn't seem to have considered this question at all, and paused for a moment in astonishment before hesitating: "A long time ago? At least a few hundred years?"

The bard has continued to state the legend of the origin of the new generation of humans: "The flood receded and the gods descended. They reshaped mortals and everything, and bestowed knowledge and skills on humans. That is our ancestor. The powerful and noble Olympians God built a holy city, my dear friends, let me tell you one by one..."

Zeus, the king of the gods, and Hera, the queen of the gods, jointly rule the most stalwart holy state, Poseidon protects the sea city, Athena blesses the seaside power, Apollo guards the clean and shining city, and the city of Artemis only has women , the army of the Holy State under the command of Ares is unstoppable, the city of Aphrodite is the sanctuary of beauty and love, Demeter lives without knowing hunger, the holy state of Hephaestus is unquenchable, and the blacksmiths are all over the world famous……

"And finally Dionysus, of course, for whose glory we unseal and drink wine at the festival of Ansestria, and be captivated with drama and song at the festival of Dionysus! O holy wine surrounded by vineyards Bang, how can I describe the intoxicating aroma that fills the air in the streets and alleys..."

Alpis frowned and squeezed into the front row of the audience.

"Glorious and great gods of Olympus, rejoice in my hymn, and grant us wealth and good fortune!"

At the end of the long poem, the bard got up, accepted the applause of the audience, and bent down to pick up the silver coins, wine bags and dried fruits thrown at him.Meanwhile, on the other side of the clearing, the drinking contest seemed to have finally come to a close, with the full-bellied and drunken champion being hoisted aloft, ready to be crowned.Most of the crowd gathered at the bard's place dispersed immediately.

Seeing this, the bard simply put down his lyre to rest.

Elpis walked over and put down a silver coin in front of him.

"Is that how the hymn just ended?" she asked.

The bard didn't seem to understand her question. He held the silver coin between his thumb and forefinger cherishedly, and smiled at her flatteringly: "Of course, that's what my respected teacher taught me. And his father was lucky enough to Go to the great Apollo, the guardian city of poets like us, to listen to the Divine Comedy. Dear friend, which other god's hymn do you want to hear? If it is a chapter that I know, then I am very happy, and I will play it for you in a while."

She paused for a moment before saying, "There was no Hermes in the carol you just sang."

The other party blinked in confusion, split the syllables and repeated: "He, Er, Mo, Si?"

She looks around.The audience who stayed nearby heard the conversation and all had the same blank expressions.It is the indifference of referring to something wholly unknown.

After a long absence, she seemed to fall into some ridiculous dream again.She couldn't help laughing, the bard's expression made her supplementary explanation sound even more stupid: "I'm talking about the envoy Hermes."

The bard was even more at a loss when he heard the words, and asked, "Isn't the messenger of the gods Elis, the goddess of the rainbow?"