She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

"When... did you wake up?"

"I really don't remember anything at first, just a vague feeling that you will leave me, and I have to keep you. But when I want to trap you by my side, you will suddenly disappear. That may be my deep sleep I don’t know how long I’ve slept, but when I’m dreaming, I do remember from time to time that all of this is an illusion. If I, the master of the dream, regard it as reality and drag you into complete indulging, maybe you I will be imprisoned in my dream and never wake up." Hermes smiled.

"I feel that the reality in the dream is not right, but I want to keep everything as it is for as long as possible. It is a pity that if you don't wake up, the power of disaster that is difficult to deal with will completely control the direction of the dream, and will you I was trapped together. Sensing the danger, I could only induce myself to wake up," Hermes looked away slightly, "In reality, the woodland where Argos was stationed did not have undead fruit trees. The fruits picked there are I allow myself the opportunity to wake up from a dream within a dream."

After drinking the juice of the undead fruit, fragmented fragments began to appear in his mind.

Premonitioning that something was about to end completely, he took the initiative to kiss her lips like a sailor catching driftwood before a huge wave hit.They were thrown high by the tide together, and the instant joy covered all the superfluous thoughts, and he could temporarily ignore the fact that he was about to reveal himself.

But the psychedelic and sweet fragrance of the undead fruit turned into a nightmare, and when Pandora woke him up in the cave, he already remembered everything.

"I also had a strange dream at that time. It seemed to be before my soul dissipated."

Hermes pursed his lips, showing an expression of apology.

Pandora froze for a moment.In the past, he would never apologize.The scale of dominance between them fluctuated, and she was also a little at a loss, and just continued dryly: "The things that happened and disappeared were also observed and recorded by Chaos. He has filled in the holes in my memory before. Maybe ...that is also the thing that He left in my spirit to seal."

He just nodded silently.

"Why you..." Pandora stopped talking before finishing asking.

Why did Hermes still maintain his youthful form, trying to pretend he didn't know anything?

She already has the answer in her heart.

Hermes didn't answer immediately, he raised his hand as if to touch her, but stopped halfway.Their gazes met in the air, and they entangled for a moment and each dodged. He smiled wryly: "Look. Even if a broken gem is restored to its original state, it will never return to the original one."

She shook her head subconsciously, but she didn't know what she was denying.

"You can't get along with me in the same way you treat me who knows nothing and hasn't made any mistakes. And you," his eyes slowly checked her eyebrows and eyes, I don't know if it's more amazed or sad, "It's also different from the past .”

Even if the misunderstanding is solved, even if their time is indeed bent backwards, what happened has already happened, and what has been changed cannot be restored.

"I... have no memory of after death. When I woke up in Olympos, I don't remember what happened in Ilysion. I only know—" Pandora began to stumble and explain the passage on her side, but she couldn't help it. It's almost impossible to make a sentence.

"That's what Kronos was for."

"You don't blame me for acting impulsively, and I didn't even try to ask you for an explanation? If I—" She took a short breath, but only hot tears flooded her eyes.Not only the eyes, but also the cheeks and ears seemed to be buzzing and boiling.She bowed her head deeply, and for the first time mustered the courage to contemplate the other actions she could have taken back then, the easier, easier paths they had missed: "If I, if not me..."

Deep in the throat, what is the feeling that burns dryly to a dull ache?Is it belatedly aware of the regret of losing a possibility of happiness forever?Or the panic of wanting something to fill and replace, but not sure if it will work?

Her trembling index finger hooked Hermes's, but she didn't dare to move any further.

He immediately grabbed her hand and shook it tightly.

"If you want to blame, you can only blame Cronus' conspiracy, besides... When I found out that you still remembered what happened, and confirmed that the person in front of me was not another brand new you, but the one I had already lost once, I unexpectedly Very happy. I was also very happy when you recognized me just now. Maybe I deliberately left too many loopholes just to..."

Pandora looked up in a daze.

Hermes' face was blurred by her tears, he carefully wiped away the water with the back of his finger, his eyes trembled timidly, and his voice became hoarse: "Otherwise, even if everything goes well, I will There will never be a chance to ask your forgiveness."

He supported her shoulders, bent his unbearable back, and bowed his head deeply to her, as if he wanted to pour out all the words of apology that could not reach the ears of the audience at that time, and his pale lips moved repeatedly: "Pandora ...I'm sorry, I,...I'm sorry, I failed to keep my promise at that time, and I didn't take you away in time...I was late. I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry, forgive me..."

A certain box that was tightly sealed was opened.

Pandora instantly remembered the panic and helplessness in the thunder that did not distinguish between day and night, the numbness when Epimetheus carried him into the carriage and bathed in the cold sight of the whole city, and realized that the ray of light that he was chasing turned out to be a mechanism that sealed life. I am at a loss, igniting myself bit by bit in hope, pinning my confidence in the miracle that seems to come at any time until the end, repeating self-deception, bursting out of intense resentment every once in a while, many, many flashbacks of good memories, frenzied fear , the consciousness that thinned along with the air... There was also pain, all over the body, even breathing was involved, physical, spiritual, long and severe, the pain that she couldn't bear the most.

In front of Hermes, only in front of Hermes and only in front of him, can she vent and release without any hesitation.

"Why didn't you come to pick me up..." Muttering a question that already knew the reason, she hit Hermes' chest, crying out of breath, her fragmented words sticking together into vague syllables, "I... Scared, so dark, so uncomfortable...I thought you...but you, why didn't you come to save me..."

Hermes hugged her tightly, bearing her tears and trembling, repeating the words of apology in a low voice over and over again.

I do not know how long it has been.Pandora supported his shoulders and raised her head.She cried so much that she was dizzy and her mind went blank.But the heavy luggage that had been with her all the way to this day was also thrown away while crying, and she felt more relaxed than ever, as if a heavy shackle had been cast off her body.

She stretched out her hand to fiddle with the curly hair on Hermes' forehead, blinked and smiled at him as if embarrassed by howling just now.

He also laughed, brushing lightly under her eyes with his fingertips.

"What are you going to do when you wake up?"

Facing the question from Hermes, she froze for a moment, then replied slowly: "After collecting the scattered power, reveal the real name..."

"And then?" He asked the question as if returning to the time when they were teaching and learning.

"I want to make Cronus pay the price. I don't want anyone, whether mortal or other creations, to be at the mercy of powerlessness. As for the others... I don't know." She was the first to become embarrassed, and her voice lowered a little bit: " I don't know what kind of god I want to be, no, I don't know what it means to become a god..."

Her distressed expression was all on her face, and Hermes actually chuckled.

"Even if we are born immortal gods, they have to establish great achievements and become widely known, and then gradually determine what authority they have and how to act." He lifted her chin and made her hold her head up. Chest, "Your birth as a new god will be unprecedented. You no longer need my protection and can make your own decisions."

Having said that, his expression was a little dull.

Restraining the soft impulse, Pandora continued to ask: "Then if I say, I want to walk more in this world... on the earth, re-examine everything I have experienced, and then decide what I really want?"

After leaving Chaos, she has been chasing the whereabouts of the power of disaster. Except for the first ten years in the fishing village of Plegola, she had little contact with other creatures, let alone live.

Hermes asked back: "Don't you already have an idea?"

"but--"

If she wants to deny the overwhelming domination of the gods and reassess everything she has done so far, will her entanglement with Hermes be included?It was he who taught her patiently and patiently what is love and hate, what is longing and disappointment.He used to be everything to her, equal to love, the only possible definition of a lover.But it will take a long time for her to look at the wider land and sky, and there are many possibilities in it, including their opposing positions, and finally each finds another one that is more suitable for each other.Even if it is faint, even if she is unwilling to give up the special they share, the possibility does exist.

She glanced at him and bit her upper lip.

Hermes smiled.He seemed to understand everything she was thinking at a glance.

"Pandora." He flipped his palm, revealing something.

"Ah, this is..."

In his palm lay a pebble the length of a pinky knuckle.The surface is almost pure black, extremely smooth, and the whole body is faintly translucent, with thin gray flocs scattered around the edges.

It was the stone she had picked out for him in the shallows of Elythion, the last fragment of the Calamitas he had stolen.

By accepting the stone, her powers will be perfected, and Hermes will wake from his stupor.

"I really don't seem to have given you a chance to fall in love with others," he said, but he didn't mean to reflect. "I can understand that you don't want to follow the path that has been arranged. So..."

He stretched out his palm in front of her.

"I give you the freedom not to choose me."

Still arrogant, but also the most sincere gift that a powerful immortal god can give.

"Are you sure?" Pandora couldn't help asking.

Hermes half-closed his eyes, put the stone into her palm, and closed his fingers for her, then he suddenly leaned over and pecked her lips: "I will work hard so that you can give it to me willingly." Me once."

The pebbles disappeared into the palm of the hand.

"Go, my dear."

The white sandy shore goes away in an instant, and she is constantly rising, breaking through the barrier between dream and reality.She vaguely saw the golden light bursting on the top of Killiney Mountain, which announced the awakening of a certain god, and spread his honor to the mortals who did not know its existence with brilliance.But the shining land of Arcadia was also left behind by her, and she continued to rise, toward the orbit of the sun-moon vehicle, and the more distant twinkling stars, until she passed the pole of the sky and was once again in the primordial void surrounding the sky and the earth .

The emptiness that bears witness to everything has not changed, and her departure from it seems to have happened just a moment ago.

"Respected original god Chaos, it's time for me to reveal my real name, please witness my creation."

Chaos did not answer.But he probably smiled a little.

The glare of Killiney was visible in every corner of the dark land.

Immediately, a pure black light beam suddenly descended from the sky, and fell straight into the center of the sealed sanctuary on the top of Mount Olympus.Just like that day hundreds of years ago, the huge black pillars descended from the clouds, and the pillars swirled and hung down in countless threads, like blooming flower buds, revealing the figure in it, and then receded into her skirt .

The young woman in a black robe closed her eyes tightly, and spread her palms in front of her chest.

Called silently, a box rises from the faceless sanctuary of darkness.The lid of the box opened towards her, and an invisible object flew out of it and fell into her palm.

The female figure descending on the sanctuary opened her eyes.

The outline of that beautiful face became more clear and moving, but it was also impossible to look directly at it because of the powerful coercion it exuded.The gray eyes reflected the towering peaks and the surging clouds, unmoved, and the edges of the pupils were thinly wrapped in dark gold.The golden ring symbolizing immortality suddenly lit up, and then turned black, and then disappeared without a trace.

He opened his lips and declared, and his voice resounded through the dark earth:

"My name is Keldora. Its meaning is not only a gift of disaster, sowing hope, reaping disease, toil and misfortune, but also the gift of destruction, resurrection from death."

Since the original gods opened up the world, the first new god was born from Chaos!

First came Chaos, then Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros.The sun, the moon and the stars are immortal, and there are eternal gods who rule the world and create thousands of lives that will eventually decay.The rules of the world are like this, which has been handed down from the distant past to the present. It is a matter of course that it has never been changed: the immortal is a god.

The new god Cedora accepts death, dies and never dies, and revives new life.

The definition of god is thus rewritten.

And above Olympus, behind him stretched out a dark crown of light, releasing all the awe-inspiring coercion, and the invisible and colorless things in his palm suddenly released a tremendous brilliance.The flawless light illuminates the top of the Montenegro, and the first sunrise comes after the long night in the sanctuary, and the snow peak, which has lost its original appearance for a long time under the pressure of disaster, returns to its pure white.

The blackness of calamity that has covered Olympus for a long time has not disappeared. They are like dandelion seeds taking off in groups, and the fine snow blown by the strong wind flutters up to the sky, spitting out colorless new shoots and flower buds from the blackness , Gently, slowly, just like a certain day long ago, disasters and hopes floated down without discrimination, and fell silently.