She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

Hermes knew he was in a dream.

One dream after another, long enough to make him forget the boundary between dreams and reality.

Some of them are reflections of memories reflected in the sea of ​​spirits.

He woke up from a bitter dream and found himself in the dark and gloomy depths of the earth.He was stunned for a moment and finally remembered that he came here to keep his promise to Hecate.

Descending deeper than the underworld is Tartarus, the pit of the abyss, the seat of the primordial god of the same name, and the prison of the gods.Most of the Titans who were defeated by the Olympians were imprisoned there, and Typhon, the storm giant bred by Gaia, was locked behind another high wall in the central forbidden area of ​​Tartarus.

Bronze walls surrounded the cave, and the only entrance to Tartarus was guarded by hundred-armed giants.They patrol the inside of the copper wall, and don't care if there are uninvited guests breaking in-in Tartarus, the more dangerous thing is always what is inside the wall.

Sneak into the dangerous forbidden place in the deepest part of Tartarus, approach without being noticed by the fierce and sensitive Typhon, and then quietly pluck a tuft of feathers from the wings behind his head-this is the commission of Hecate, the goddess of the black moon .

A dangerous problem indeed.For Hermes, however, it was easy, as long as he acted carefully and quickly.

He concealed himself, landed behind the unaware giant more quietly than a feather fell, and stole a handful of feathers quickly and neatly.The thief had left Tartarus when Typhon roared and raged at the sting from his wings and set off a storm in the abyss.

He went directly to Hecate's underground palace and gave her the feather.He didn't ask her why she needed it.He has completely lost interest in these things.

Farewell from Hecate, and Hermes visits Ilysion again.

He didn't try to find Pandora's soul.No need for confirmation, he knew she must have lived a peaceful afterlife.

Besides, Faol is often around Pandora.She became like the other Natives and never saw the blond boy again.But he is still faithfully by her side.And as long as Hermes appeared, Faol would start yelling and throwing stones at the envoy like wild dogs.

Hermes' destination is Ilysion's Sea of ​​Dreams.

The body, spirit, and soul, and the experience of life will leave marks on the three to varying degrees.The water of Leather not only erases the traces engraved on the soul, but also dissolves the connection between the soul and the spirit.The spirit that contains most of the emotions and desires is separated from the soul after death, and merged into the illusory sea of ​​​​dreams under the roots of the oak tree of Ilysion. Only the fragments with the most profound emotions will become fragments and float up, becoming the natives of the Bliss Dreams shared at night.

Hermes' Staff of Two Snakes can open the way to the surface of the Dream Sea.

Whenever he had the chance, he would dive again and again, looking for familiar traces among the countless fragments.

After all, Pandora had a good time with him, and it would not be completely obliterated by his mistakes.Only good thing, he wanted proof that she had been happy because of him.He craves this self-deceiving fantasy, not the blank space that can only be filled by his assumptions in the end.

Today is no exception.

Hermes carefully touched the spiritual fragments of the dead, like peeling petals, and released the irrelevant ones into the tide of the dream sea after confirmation.The next slice, the next slice...

The dark cave pierced into his consciousness.deja vu.

To be exact, he had seen the cave beyond recognition.

The ending erases all process.Of course it is.

He watched the Cloak of Death come with her eyes.again and again.Until exhausted and lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he had been thrown outside the Field of Bliss.

After that, Hermes avoided to Fuleyuan for a long time.But in the dream, this time passed in the blink of an eye.

He continues to perform his duties as a messenger, delivering news and bringing wealth and good fortune to the world.As a spirit walker, he couldn't avoid meeting Charon, but they tacitly kept silent about some things.Zeus didn't ask much.In the eyes of the outside world, Hermes was absent at most from the feast celebrating the defeat of Guigantes.

Eros shot some golden arrows at Hermes.Perhaps because he forced out the gold and lead double arrows on his own, Hermes was more sensitive to the mischief of the God of Eros, and Eros failed to succeed again.

Apollo asked him to drink and chat more than once.The son of Leto was well-intentioned, but the intentions of this concern were too blatant, clumsy and useless.Under the control of Hermes, the topic always unknowingly deviated from the direction Apollo wanted to talk about.

Hermes couldn't express his emotions frankly like his half-brother.It's not because of the natural constraints of the side of the God of Deceit, he just thinks it's pointless to pour out.If confession can bring Pandora back to life, he doesn't mind telling every god in the sky and the earth about the cause and effect.However, Apollo can only give sincere consolation after all.

Whenever Apollo left, Hermes couldn't help but drink up the wine that had barely touched just now.

A god can't lose his sobriety because of good wine, but he can trick himself into being drunk.

Then he found an excuse and rushed to Ilysion with a non-existent alcoholism, concealed his breath, put on another face, pretended to be a stranger, and passed by a field across the farmhouse where Pandora lived.That's all, no stopping, no talking.He obviously didn't have the courage to peek into the reality of her life now, but he did this ridiculous useless effort time and time again.Because he still had an illusion that he couldn't confess: if she noticed him and let her initiate the conversation, then it wouldn't be considered that he was shamelessly disturbing her peace after death.

The most dangerous time, she just opened the door and looked at him, a passerby, from afar.Of course she didn't recognize that he was the angel who sent her here, she just stood at the door, smiling politely and kindly at him.Hermes didn't know if he had time to return a smile, he always felt like he was running away.

When he passed by, there might be a few more flowers of different colors blown by the wind on the path in front of her door.But she probably never noticed.

He should be content with this ending.Although it's not a good dream, I'd rather stop at this moment.

But it's a nightmare after all.

The location and the day and night changed abruptly, and Hermes was riding the night wind across the silent field of Ilysion, penetrating into the gentle mountain far away from the village.One of the hills looked unremarkable from a distance, so he flew straight up the grassy slope and plunged into it.Yinyinbicao trembled and twisted, opened a small mouth to swallow the figure of the messenger of the gods, and then returned to calm.

Behind the blinding mist was a hill topped by a stone house and a shrine.

Shortly after the end of the Gigantes War, Apollo handed over Pandora's body to Hermes, graciously ignoring the burial.So he naturally didn't know that Hermes kept her body separated from the soul god in a certain shrine in Ilysion.

Hermes still did not give up.

There must be a way to expel the breath of death from Pandora's soul.At that time, her spirit will naturally be summoned to leave the dream sea, and return to the body that he tried to maintain the original state with her soul.

He knew that this obsession was out of the ordinary, and it was crazy folly.

But if he really had to think about it, he probably went crazy the moment the symbols of the double snake staff on the cave came into his eyes.He just hid it well, even tricked Zeus's eyes, and behaved almost normal.

Hermes landed in a courtyard surrounded by olive trees and walked straight to the shrine.His steps stopped abruptly.

The shrine door, which was supposed to be locked, was open.

Behind the door is--

Hermes woke up startled at this moment, but woke up in another nightmare.

He stood in a beautiful garden, and the delicate grass and flowers nodded to him with the wind.After listening to the whirling forest in confusion for a moment, he recalled in a daze, what happened just now was an old dream, but this time everything is different.It was all because of the warm wind, and he was confused again.Yes, he escaped an ambush by Eros and arrived just in time to take Pandora from Epimea.Then they lived happily ever after as they wished.It has been many, many years since the box was opened.

But why, when there was a voice calling him from behind the shade of the tree, his feet seemed to grow out of a swamp, and cold fear slowly climbed into his heart?

"Hermes."

Pandora is calling him.

The body moves on its own.He parted the branches of the olive tree and walked over.

Pandora sat on a high-backed chair under a tree.

Fragments of sunlight leaked through the leaves, and her long hair was tied into a bundle and hung down her shoulders, shining with a silvery white gleam.

"My time has come." She said softly, her dry and thin cheeks sunken into deep marks with a smile.

"……Do not."

The Goddess of Chenxi sought eternal life for her lover, but forgot to ask for eternal youth, so she could only watch him grow old.And Hermes didn't even give Pandora immortality.She guessed the price of eternal life, and she didn't want to drink the fairy food and secret wine, and she didn't want him to be punished.

"I'm getting old like a mortal," Pandora put the back of her hand in front of her eyes, looking at the aging marks on her skin; then she looked up at him, her gray eyes were cloudier than she remembered, but more serene, she murmured jokingly , "And you're still as young as ever."

"No, I can grow old too." Saying this, Hermes' appearance changed, his black hair was like frost and snow, and he aged instantly.He walked over, lowered himself before Pandora's feet, landed on one knee, pressed her hands on the armrest of the chair, raised his face to her almost pleadingly, and smiled cautiously: "Look? We grow old together .”

She looked at him for a long time, shook her head tolerantly, said nothing, her eyelids drooped heavily.

"Pandora... no. Please..."

"I'm very happy." She smiled at him one last time.

She didn't open her eyes again.She began to lose temperature.She gets stiff and hard.She returned to her original form of clay.She cracks.She loses shape.She crumbles into dust and dissipates.

Well it was just a nightmare.

Hermes woke up again.This time, he woke up from a long sleep.

He was a little dizzy, and it took him a long time to figure out the cause: he avoided Eros' ambush and rescued Pandora in time.He tricked her into drinking the secret wine and told her that she only needed to endure for a year.Then, because he broke his oath to Apollo, he fell into a long sleep without consciousness under the influence of Styx's power.

Now he finally woke up.

Hermes sat up, looked around, and frowned in doubt.The surroundings were too quiet, something placed on his chest slid to the ground with the movement, and the crisp sound of the metal object falling to the ground was extremely ear-piercing.

He followed the sound.

A gold belt carved with two serpents lay there.The one he gave to Pandora.

Hermes understood the meaning in an instant: she was no longer waiting for him.she left.He lost her again.

Is it because someone else fell in love with?Or do you think of regrets that never happened?I don't know, I don't know.Because this nightmare ends here.

Hermes woke up from his dream.

Maybe they can't have a happy ending.he thinks.It would be better not to have had a beginning at all.

Hermes quickly looked around. The golden palace on the top of Mount Olympus was as clean and magnificent as ever.During the solemn ceremony, he unexpectedly lost his mind in a rare way, and had a series of unpleasant daydreams.And in the center of the hall, a young woman shaped by Hephaestus and endowed with wisdom by Zeus stood there, silently waiting.The next to give his blessing was he, Hermes, god of sophisms and messenger of the gods.

"I--"

Hermes came to her and stopped abruptly for half a beat.

"I bestow upon you a beautiful voice and eloquent lips."

He touched her lips lightly, then turned and left, and came to the Sky Seat to report.

"My father Zeus, just now, for some reason, I seemed to be hit by something, and I had a thought that I shouldn't have. I beg you to use your eyes that see through everything to identify the cause of my abnormality."

The king of all gods raised his eyebrows in surprise, stared at Hermes intently, then smiled, and raised his voice towards the void: "Eros, the prank depends on the occasion."

Venus appeared helplessly, curled his lips and sighed: "It's really boring." He complained, and he retracted the golden arrow that shot Hermes.

The gift of the gods was then named by Zeus.Hermes was ordered to escort her to the mortal world and back.Nothing happened.Everything went according to plan.The treasure box of Olympus was opened on a certain day, and disasters spread across the world.Gaia and Epimetheus attempted to rebel and of course failed.No one knows what happened to the bride who opened the magic box.No one cares.

Because Hermes woke up again.

He could barely tell whether this was a dream or reality.Maybe it doesn't matter whether it's true or not.He only knew that a huge force had erupted not far away, and under the impact of the aftermath, he fell into chaos for a short time, mistakenly thinking that he had fallen into a long series of absurd dreams, each of which was shorter than the last.

Hermes looked around intently.The field of flames disappeared, covered in pure black, vast and silent, extending to the end of the earth and sky.Looking down, he saw Pandora.He was standing beside her, but he didn't suddenly realize her until now.

Pandora had already returned to her normal figure, lying on her back in the pitch-black wilderness, panting with difficulty.

He leaned over her, touching her hair and cheek lightly.But she didn't blink.

Nothing happened.She could no longer see, feel him, or hear his call.

Not only that, as if startled by his movements, the black shadows attached to the earth and sky were blown up by the lonely wind, like dandelion seeds that could not germinate.The spirits of misfortune began to dissipate as their host bodies crumbled.

cool down.harden.Show your true colors.broken.dissipate.

He is late again.

"Ah..."

Fragmented syllables escaped from Hermes' lips.

He slumped to the ground in a daze, clutching a handful of crumbs that didn't exist.

It's time to wake up.he told himself.It's just a nightmare.He closes his eyes.But nothing happened.He opened his eyes, and the faded wilderness in his vision began to shake violently.Why didn't he wake up?Isn't this a dream?Shouldn't this be all a dream?Yes, just another nightmare.It's all a dream.

The world began to distort and deform again, and the familiar force pulled him to sink into deeper waters.

"I'm here." A voice came from behind.

Hermes' pupils suddenly dilated.

"I've been here a long time."

Soft hands rested on his shoulders from behind.

Fall with him to the bottom of the nightmare spiral.