She received the gift of God [Greek mythology]

Pandora hesitated.

She couldn't read Hermes' attitude.The gods who gave her life put her in his hands, and if he wanted her to study, she would study; if he would rather she refused, then she would agree to leave here.

She stared at Hermes with implicit pleading, hoping he would make the decision for her.Like everything before.

He smiled softly like a sigh, and was very firm: "No, it's useless if you look at me like this. You must make your own decision on this matter, and the oath will be effective."

"If I wanted to learn from you... what would I do specifically?" Pandora blinked.It won't be difficult, will it?

"It's no different from eloquence. I will bless you and guide you to use it." Hermes raised his eyes to the looming sky between the oak branches and leaves, and added, "But this is not Olympus, and you have adapted to it." Without this body, it may be a little uncomfortable when receiving blessings."

"Do you think it will take me a few more days to learn?" She vaguely felt that Hermes didn't want to stay in Ilysion for long.If it takes too long, forget it.

"I can't tell." The envoy seemed to have seen through her considerations, and gave an ambiguous answer with a slight smile.

Pandora lowered her head.Does she want to learn deception?have no idea.Does she want to stay here any longer?

She raised her face: "Hermes, please teach me."

The eyes of the messenger of the gods flickered, as if there was a smile, but even if there was, it quickly dissipated.She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.Although he refused to say it, she chose what he wanted more.

Immediately, Pandora felt that her statement was too straightforward, wasting his language teaching, and added two more sentences as if to make up for it: "I want to learn from you how to weave ingenious lies and conceive amazing tricks."

Hermes watched her intently, waiting for her to say the most important thing.

The solemn oath naturally emerged in the waves of consciousness, and all Pandora needed was to pronounce every word and every syllable:

"I promise, I swear to you, to the great sky and the dark land, Hermes the hunted of Argos, king of thieves, expert of lies and tricks, I will always believe in you and never doubt you."

"Okay," Hermes murmured after his thoughts flew far away, after a moment of absence, "very good."

Literally well, but he sounded contrite.

Pandora didn't make a sound.He quickly adjusted his attitude, and said relaxedly and peacefully: "Close your eyes, and I will bless you."

She obediently closed the curtain on her vision.

Hermes got closer, and she felt the unique aura on him.He brushed her loose strands back, wrapping a strand around her shoulders.Then, his fingertips found the location of her heart, and without hesitation, they reached the destination.

"I will bury lies, tricks, and cunning characters, just like planting seeds in the soil." Hermes' soft-spoken explanation sounded above her head.After a pause, there was a little familiar smile in his voice: "Don't be so nervous."

Pandora's drooping long eyelashes trembled in embarrassment.

"It doesn't hurt at all."

His breath fell on her forehead as he said this.

Pandora felt him touch her hair with his lips.Because of this, her consciousness was concentrated on her head, and it was a beat later that she felt the tingling pain of a foreign object invading her chest.

it hurts!

She froze and even forgot to breathe.

The common sense given by Athena told her that the pain was actually not serious.But this was the first time her pain sense had started to work, and it was very unaccustomed.The suffocation exacerbated the discomfort caused by the Seed of Deceit.She shrunk her shoulders, stooped forward, her forehead touched Hermes' chest, and took a short breath.

He supported her and patted her on the back: "It will be fine soon. Come on, open your eyes and look at me."

As soon as Pandora opened her eyes, the warm tears already filled with tears flowed down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes.

Hermes wiped her tears helplessly: "So uncomfortable?"

She wanted to nod, but for some reason, what she said was: "It doesn't matter anymore."

Not only Pandora, Hermes was also stunned for a moment.

He immediately commented: "This lie is clumsy. But it seems that my blessing has taken effect."

She took a deep breath and looked around.The scenery of Hexin Garden has not changed, neither has the sky and the earth, but there is something different.Then she suddenly thought that Hermes had lied to her just now, telling her that it would not hurt.So--

"Remember your promise to me."

He whispered behind her.

Thoughts that didn't germinate in time withered.Pandora faced him, nodding to show that she remembered.

Hermes didn't say much, and sat down on the ground under the tree, tilting his head to signal her to go to him.He raised his arm, touched the leaves on the low-hanging branches, and said casually: "Now I can tell you a lot more stories." He seemed to have found the leaf he wanted, and stopped: "For example- -"

He took off the oak leaves and handed them to Pandora.

She took it without knowing why.The moment she touched the blade, a string of facts poured into her mind, too fast and too fast, she had a headache, but she couldn't immediately recognize what she newly learned.

"This is the Elysion Oak that records everything. However, the way it conveys the message is rough, and it may take a little getting used to before you can understand the content. If you feel uncomfortable, lie down and take a breath first."

Pandora followed her words and slowly lay down under the shade of the tree, the grass was like a thick and soft blanket, her chest pain and headache all disappeared.She could not help but sigh comfortably.Like a knot unraveling naturally, she began to understand what the leaves were sending.

Hermes waited for a moment, and gently touched her forehead with his palm: "Understood?"

"Well," Pandora summed up the newly acquired information, "Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and harvest, had a daughter named Persephone. When Demeter's daughter and fairies were playing on the meadow full of flowers , The earth suddenly split open, and Hades, who is in charge of the underworld, rushed out with a carriage, grabbed Persephone in the carriage and took her underground, asking her to be his wife."

She paused in bewilderment at Hades' seemingly unreasonable behavior.

Unlike Hermes' narration, what the oak leaf taught her was only the facts, without any deeper reasons behind it.

"Only Helios, who was driving the sun chariot, and the goddess of the black moon heard Persephone's scream. Demeter heard the echo of her daughter's cry and began to follow her trail. The goddess who lost her child resolutely left Olympus, refused to attend the banquet of the gods, and no longer drank fairy food and secret wine.

"She only cared about moving forward. She didn't answer Helios and the Black Moon Goddess' words of concern. She just kept going. Until the tenth day, Demeter came to a city-state of mortals. She put away the god's The crown of light, disguised as an old woman alone. The king who ruled the city had three daughters. They went to the well to draw water and saw the goddess in disguise. Demeter—”

Pandora stopped in surprise again, but Hermes didn't urge her, just smiled and waited for her to continue.

"Demeter claimed that she was from Crete, and was taken captive by pirates to a foreign land. She fled from them and has been wandering ever since. She asked the king's daughters if anyone in the city would take her and she would help to raise her. Babies in their swaddling arms, guarding the mansion, and doing household chores like making beds.

"So the princesses of the city-state asked Demeter to help them take care of their young brother. The goddess pretended to be an ordinary old woman, and just entered the palace of the city-state king. No one found out that she was actually a god.

"Demeter began to raise the king's young son with all her heart. She fed him not mortal grain or milk, but nourished him with the breath of celestial nectar, and buried the baby in the fire at night, and bit death from him. Burn it. But the queen watched the goddess secretly, found the abnormality of the nurse, and prevented Demeter from putting the baby into the fire. Demeter revealed her identity, walked into the newly built temple for her, and refused Take a step outside. From then on, there will be no vitality on the earth, no matter how hard it is plowed, the barley will not bear fruit. The world will fall into famine."

Finally, Pandora couldn't hold back, looked sideways at Hermes, and asked a series of questions: "Why did Demeter lie to the princesses? Why did she go to raise the king's children first, and then refused after being discovered by the queen?" To give the earth a bountiful harvest?"

He leaned slightly towards her, looked down with a smile on his hands, and asked teasingly, "What do you think?"

She felt inexplicably hot behind her ears. After thinking for a moment, she said uncertainly: "Demeter lost her daughter, and she... wants to offset the pain by raising the king's child?"

"Correct."

Hermes' simple approval made Pandora's heart jump.Her heartstrings relaxed a little, and she asked boldly, "Do gods feel pain too?"

Hermes watched her quietly for a moment before replying: "Of course. Pain, sorrow, joy, hatred and love, these emotions possessed by humans and other creatures, of course gods also have them. Humans are originally shaped by us. out. But the way we feel and express emotions is very different from humans in many cases.”

Pandora didn't wait for him to explain in detail - what are the specific differences between the emotional perception and expression of the gods.Could Persephone really be replaced by a mortal baby?She didn't ask.

"The reason for lying is often important. When weaving a lie, you should also consider why you are lying." Hermes turned the topic back to the lie and Demeter, "The earth no longer has the golden beauty of the harvest, and then ?”

"What happened next... You also intervened, I want to hear what you say. Besides, you speak better than me." Pandora realized that this sounded like a compliment, and licked her lips helplessly.She really thinks so.

The smile on Hermes' lips deepened, and he knew what she was thinking.

Pandora's hair is inexplicably attractive to Hermes.Before, he had refrained from touching her only when she was asleep; now, maybe because the side that conforms to his nature has been uncovered, he has found a reason to stay in the Yuan of Bliss, and he has the promise he wanted, so he is a little bit Unscrupulous.

Besides, Pandora had more seeds of cunning in her body, but she still praised him so frankly. He suddenly felt that kissing the tip of her hair just now was not enough, so he couldn't help reaching out and wrapping his fingertips around the end of her curly long hair.

"Father God Zeus heard the prayers of mankind, and sent gods one after another from Olympus, presenting gifts and honors, trying to persuade Demeter to return to the gods and bring grace to the earth again."

Hermes is always very talkative when he is in a good mood.He complied with Pandora's request, and continued the continuation of the incident that she did not finish:

Demeter rejected all envoys sent by Zeus, she just wanted to see her missing daughter again.So Zeus ordered Hermes to mediate and persuade Hades to let Persephone leave the smoky dark place temporarily.

While describing how he was ordered to go to the underworld, Hermes was not idle.He raised Pandora's head to his knees, his fingertips dexterously fluttering.Braid her long honey-colored hair.

Pandora listened to his retelling, but was a little distracted.

When she looked up, she could meet Hermes' green eyes.It is not only the distance in space that is shortened.His attitude towards her was suddenly much more casual.It's not that he treated her badly before, but he always showed a little polite distance, as if he didn't want to get too close to her.

Pandora guessed it was because she offered to be his apprentice.Probably this kind of oath relationship is different for him from the task given by Zeus.

"I took the word to Hades and he agreed to let it go. You know what happened next."

Hades agreed to release Persephone, but made her eat a pomegranate seed before parting.The goddess who tasted the fruit of Hades could not completely return to Olympus, and after that, she spent one-third of each year with Hades.

"If you are in the situation of Persephone, you want to go back to your mother, but Hades will not agree easily," Hermes jokingly clasped Pandora's wrist, "You You haven't eaten the pomegranate seeds yet, you want to escape from the fog-like darkness of Hades, but the only weapons you can use are lies and tricks, what will you do?"

Pandora stood up, thought for a moment and said: "I... would say, if I don't see the sun and my mother's face, I will die of sorrow."

Hermes smiled.

"Ah." She realized the mistake.

It is meaningless to use death as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the master of the underworld.Moreover, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus had nothing to do with death.Unlike her.

"Think again." Hermes tightened his grip on her wrists, her shoulder bumped into his, and her waist was also hooped from behind.That Hermes who made her feel strange showed his clues again, and he was so close to her.The cold light of the god's crown penetrated under the linen, making her tremble and sucking away her strength.

Then it occurred to her that maybe he was just playing a dramatic imitation of the Lord of Death.

Even so, for a moment, Pandora almost thought that Hermes was not giving her a test, but was actually threatening in her ear with a soft tone like introducing flowers and plants: "Convince me, otherwise you will stay forever." I'm here."