If only Katra would renounce her loyalty to her mother. So long as she remained tied to two pantheons, Katra was a danger to both. She could be used against either side.
Just like Urian’s real mother. Had Bethany not inadvertently given her protection over to the Greeks because she loved Prince Styxx, the Atlanteans would have destroyed the Greek army that first day in battle and won their war against Greece before it started.
Then Princess Ryssa wouldn’t have been given to Apollo to win his favor, and she and her son wouldn’t have died, thus causing the curse for Stryker and his people.
More to the point, had Bethany not had divided loyalties Apostolos wouldn’t have been slaughtered. And Atlantis wouldn’t have been destroyed.
Divided loyalties could never be trusted. She only trusted Strykerius now because his father had forever severed their bond when he’d cursed Strykerius’s children to die. There was no repairing that with mere words. Strykerius would never forgive Apollo for his damnation of their innocence.
She would make sure of it …
April 17, 9508 BC
“Solren? Please don’t get mad … I was playing with your sfora when I saw this.”
Urian looked up from where he sat in their front room, polishing his sword, to see Geras holding his crystal sfora in his hand. He smiled gently at the boy. “I’m not angry, m’gios.” He tried to have patience with his son. “Though you should ask before you get into my things.”
Placing the oiled cloth aside, Urian held his hand out for the boy to show him why he was so upset and fretting.
Geras moved closer to hand him the small ball.
Urian took a moment to reassure his nervous son that he wasn’t angry. Geras was literally shaking, he was so frightened. He set his kopis aside and pulled Geras into the circle of his arms so that he could stand between his knees and see into the sfora clearly. “So what did you glimpse that has you so upset?”
Biting his lip, Geras held it up in front of the fire to show him.
The flames flickered in the pale crystal. At first there was nothing except the mist that swirled like Apollymi’s eyes.
Until Urian saw his mother’s home.
And the body of her lover lying in the yard with four arrows protruding from his back.
Cold fear went through him and shook him to the core of his soul. He couldn’t breathe or think.
He shot to his feet.
“Solren?”
Too scared to look closer at the house on his own, Urian almost stumbled over his son. “I-I’m not angry, Geras. I’m grateful.” Kissing him on the head, he reached for his sword. Before he summoned his brothers to this waking nightmare, he wanted to verify the vision with the goddess.
His heart pounded with denials and any other explanation his mind could conjure.
Maybe it was wrong. Maybe, maybe it was something else.
Please, gods, let it be anything else!
He teleported to her garden.
Too panicked to consider what he was doing, he flashed straight to her pool.
Apollymi rose up instantly and slammed him down with a god-bolt. Unexpected pain exploded through his body as if he’d been hit by a mountain. It was so extreme and violent that for a full minute, he couldn’t breathe. He honestly thought that every bone in his body had been shattered. His ears rang with an unparalleled shrillness.
Why didn’t I put on Xyn’s armor? At least that would have given him some form of protection.
As it was, he had nothing. And he wasn’t sure if he’d ever walk again.
In fact, it took him a second to realize that Apollymi had pulled him into her arms and was holding him, calling his name as she stroked his cheek. That was how much pain he was in. Just how senseless she’d knocked him.
He struggled to move or have any semblance of a rational thought.
“What were you thinking by barging in here unannounced?”
He hadn’t been.
“My mata,” he breathed.
She scowled. “What?”
“W-w-wanted to check on my matera.”
“You foolish boy!” She looked over to her Charonte. “Xedrix, fetch water from the falls. Fast!”
The demon didn’t have to go far. A beautiful priestess was already there in the gardens. One Urian had never seen before. Dressed in a black gown, she had long, curly auburn hair that held tiny braids and ribbons, intricately designed and laced through the dark tendrils. Even though she kept her gaze on the ground and he felt as though he were about to die, he couldn’t miss the vibrant beauty of her green eyes as she came closer to hand Apollymi a jewel-encrusted cup.
Apollymi tipped it to his lips. “Drink!”
Urian flinched at the black water as his stomach heaved in revulsion of it.
“Drink!” she insisted.
Bracing himself, he obeyed, praying it didn’t taste as bad as it looked.
The moment the black water invaded his mouth and burned his lips and tongue, he choked but somehow managed to swallow it down. Scented with roses, it tasted more like peppermint and some kind of sweetness he’d never known. And it swept through his body like fire, taking with it all his pain.
The priestess laid a gentle hand to his hair, then his shoulder, before she vanished.
Urian glanced from her to Apollymi. “Who is she?”
“Never you mind. Are you all right?”
Still shaken by his near-death experience, Urian frowned. “Pretty sure you knocked out the last three or four bits of my brain cells, akra.”
She scoffed at him. “What have I told you about intruding so rudely into my sanctum?”
“A point I shan’t ever forget after tonight.”
“See that you don’t.” Glaring pointedly at him, she helped him to his feet. “Now, let us look and see what’s going on with your mother.”
Urian was still having a bit of trouble seeing straight after her violent assault as they went to the pool. It’d been a long time since he’d last ventured here for this. His days of wanting to see the sun had long passed. He’d learned not to yearn for things he couldn’t have. To not torture himself with such pointless endeavors.
But as the waters cleared and he saw the bright light where his mother lived, his breath caught. It hadn’t been an illusion. She was under vicious attack. In the mirrored waters, he could see the humans who were ransacking her farm and delighting in the harm they caused.
Urian started to teleport but couldn’t. Apollymi had locked him in.
“Are you insane? It’s daylight!”
“I don’t care!” Frustrated tears filled his eyes as he watched his mother being attacked. “She’s my mata!” Hysteria welled inside his heart as he heard his tiny mother screaming for help and mercy. Neither of which came for her.
Rather the humans continued on and on with their brutality.
Apollymi rippled the waters, scattering the images so that he could no longer see or hear them.
Not that it mattered. They were seared into his mind and soul. Forever scarred there.
“Ni!” Urian shouted, rushing back. “You can’t leave her. She’s alone and unprotected! We have to do something!”
She caught him against her chest while he struggled. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Bullshit! You’re a goddess. Send your Charonte. A storm! Something! Help her! Please! Please!” Urian sobbed and struggled, desperate to help his mother.
How could they do nothing?
She refused to let him go. Instead, she held him tighter to her breasts. “I know, pido … I know. I couldn’t help my son when he needed me. Either of my boys, and it killed me to know how they suffered when there was nothing I could do to stop it. To know that with all the powers I have, I couldn’t go into Hades and pull my boy out and restore his life.It tore out my heart and left me this shattered shell you see before you that barely functions here in this hell. I know how bad it hurts. But there is nothing to be done. If you go, you’ll die. Plain and simple. You know this. Your mother wouldn’t have you harmed for anything. She would rather die a thousand times more than see you hurt. Believe me, I know the heart of a mother. And if you were gone, then who would protect your children and wife from such a fate?”