The Fall of a Mortal

The Shadow

His hands reached toward the rays of light as they engulfed him in a warm hug.
The next moment Icarus opened his eyes, he could have sworn he saw beautiful blue eyes looking down at him, from a warm, shiny face, but it disappeared so soon that he thought that he was going insane. He felt like something was amiss with them as well. Like they had lost their sparkle and were dull and kinda lifeless. It didn't take away from their beauty though. They still shone like stars in the nights Artemis wasn't hunting. What was the deal with the changing eye colors anyway?

Bringing himself up on his forearms, Icarus looked around the overly shiny room. He could feel the soft sheets underneath his... naked skin. Icarus took a deep breath, reassuring himself that he was not naked in a random bed somewhere he had no idea where he had ended up. Lifting the soft covers up slowly, Icarus saw that he was indeed as naked as the day he was born. He face-palmed and fell back on the soft pillows. Keeping his eyes closed tightly, Icarus tried to recall what had happened for him to end up butt-naked in a random bed, but nothing could be recalled after he had felt that piercing pain before coming back to life.
-"Oh come on, all I wanted was to live a normal life for once? Is that too much to ask?"-Icarus groaned as his head started throbbing again.
-" Technically, no. You're not asking for much." -a female voice sounded from behind the door, right as it was opened, revealing one of the most beautiful girls Icarus had ever seen in his entire life. 

Icarus screamed the most girly scream ever, loud enough to scare the birds off the trees up to ten miles away, and yet the girl didn't even flinch. As if she had been anticipating this reaction of his.
Icarus blushed and slapped his hand over his mouth, a futile attempt to stop other unwanted reactions.
The girl looked straight into his eyes, not wasting a single second.
"Your head is hurting again?"-she didn't seem to be waiting for an answer as she walked toward the bed and left the plate she was keeping in her hands on the bedside table.
She was kind enough to let him calm down from the initial shock and just checked something over his head.
Only then did Icarus notice the bandages over his head, the only piece of clothing on his body?
Her hands were soft as she worked her way through his untamed curls to take care of the wound on his head.
-"The impact body-water from such a high height is the same, maybe even worse as if you had hit your body to a huge rock, which by the way should have completely broken your bones."-the girl finally turned her head on the other side and Icarus had a moment of calmness in front of him, and he spent it trying to calm down his racing thoughts.
Broken bones? Body-water impact? Rocks? He tried to collect his thoughts as his head was pounding from all the information trying to make its way known to him. After a long minute, he finally managed to say something in a croaked voice.
-"What happened?"
The girl turned her back to him and said in a saccharine voice, a tone that made Icarus crawl in his own skin.
-"You tried to kill yourself apparently. Zeus, mortals nowadays do everything to be looked upon by a God even if it's just for a fraction of a second. You pathetic being." she was seething inside and Icarus could almost feel her rage, which she unhelpfully tried to hide behind the sweet voice.
Icarus flinched because of her words and tried even harder to remember what had happened. All it caused was a worse headache and confusion to take over his beautiful features. His brown curls were stained by blood and from his lips was oozing blood from all the turmoil happening inside him, but he paid no mind to it.

The air stood still in anticipation of a response. But instead of the sharp and cheeky words she had expected, a heavy silence filled the room. It was deafening, a stark contrast to the earlier atmosphere.

She turned to face him, but the sight that met her eyes made her heart skip a beat. His proud and confident demeanor was gone, replaced by a pale, almost translucent complexion. His eyes rolled back into his head, losing focus and leaving him looking more lifeless than ever before.

She acted without thinking, darting forward to catch his head just before it could collide with the unyielding wood behind him. 

-"Mortals are getting more self-destructive than ever. Holy Zeus, what should we do about this?"-her whispers were not very hushed, so the other presence in the room heard them very clearly.
-"Daphne..."-the other presence called out to the girl as she suddenly froze in place, having just remembered of HIS presence in the room. Her body was completely frozen, a wet napkin resting just above Icarus' bloodied lip, but never touching it.

The voice reached her like a booming shockwave, stirring a mixture of memories and emotions within her. It echoed with a commanding authority, one that made her feel as though she was standing before her father again. For a brief moment, she stood frozen, caught in the web of memories and shock.

Finally, she steeled her resolve and turned, her eyes meeting the shadowy figure that lurked in the corner..
-"Yes my Lord?"- her weak voice called to the authoritative presence in the room, a deep fear making itself known inside her stomach. From the moment she had turned into a tree to escape him, she had sealed her fate forever.

The power and wrath of the God of Light were not to be underestimated. He had grown tired of the constant rejection and betrayal from the mortals and nymphs he once cherished. Now, he saw them as nothing more than pawns in his cosmic game.

All those who had dared to defy him had been dealt with harshly, their freedom stripped away with every act of defiance. Forced to act out his every whim, these former free souls now serve him without question, their once strong was now replaced by a hollow obedience. after his breakup with Hermes, he decided to become heartless and take revenge on the same people who had continuously hurt him.

Daphne's defiance was quickly extinguished by the menacing glare from the God of Light. She couldn't bring herself to look up at him any longer, and immediately dropped to her knees, pleading for mercy.

As she knelt there, the shadow of the God seemed to move, his hand raised high above her head. Fear gripped her as she let out a shrill scream, terrified of what would come next.

-"You're just a slave Daphne. Don't forget your place."-the shadow never raised its voice, but the chill of it spread all around the room, up to the point Icarus shivered in his sleep. Daphne screamed again, as the pressure in her heart was becoming too much to contain.
The shadow looked down on the screaming nymph and with a wave of his hand sent her away from the room. His eyes were cold and his body almost invisible and still, he walked up to the sleeping boy.

The shadow looked down on the sleeping mortal, and for the first time in centuries, a small smile adorned his face. With His hand outstretched, almost touching the sleeping boy's cheek the shadow looked almost content. But as fast as it appeared, it left. The shadow was left with its cold heart on his hands again and quickly brought his hand back, suddenly deciding to just stare for a moment at the small mortal.

The long brown curls fell over his forehead delicately and touched the porcelain skin, which now looked far too pale to be natural. He swallowed once as he noticed the contrast of Icarus's long lashes that fell on his high cheeks and his cold, lifeless skin. The blood resting on his head and lips just made the boy more alluring to the shadow. Who didn't know of the bloodlust that comes with being a God?

He tried once again to stretch his hand and touch the cold skin, the fire of lust inside of him burning his soul to ashes. But he couldn't bring himself to finish his thoughts and left abruptly.
Walking back to his black, life headquarters, he ordered some of the slaves around to take good care of the child resting on the imperial bed.
Another beat skipped from his seemingly dead and frozen heart as he felt Icarus stir on HIS bed.