Sunlight | Luke Castellan

XXX. gifts from the sun

The soft notes of a lyre caused me to stir, and I immediately groaned at the heavy pressure in my head. I pressed a hand to the right side of my forehead, wincing, and squinted as I was blinded by sunlight. The white marbled floor was chilled to the touch, and if I didn't feel like I'd been run over by a semi-truck, I would have stood to my feet-

That's when I realized I wasn't wearing any shoes.

My eyes flared wide as I glanced over myself. My celestial bronze armor was gone, and the camp attire I'd worn to my patrol shift had been exchanged for a pale blue silk top and wide pants. The fabric was light, flowing in the air as a soft breeze passed. The quality had to be worth more than my family's apartment, maybe the entire complex. What bothered me the most was the lack of my weaponized bracelet on my wrist, causing me to feel much more vulnerable than I had in months.

Tall marble columns stood in a large circular formation around me, and they were so massive that they disappeared into the bright sky. Thick dark green vines wrapped around a few of them with leaves larger than my hands. Faint purple and pink flowers grew along the floor, sprouting as if it was natural, and the air was filled with the scent of cypress wood. The musical notes from the lyre seemed to float past me, almost tangible. They filled me with an unnatural warmth, and it rested in my chest.

"Eleni Jackson," a male voice sang absentmindedly, and I shifted my spot on the marble floor to turn around. An abnormally large Grecian sofa stood in the center of the room, and lounging on it was a tall man dressed in shimmering golden robes. A laurel wreath rested on his blond sun kissed twisted curls, which seemed to glow with his dark skin.

"The mortal called to our aid," the man hummed. No, not a man... a god. His fingers plucked at the lyre, and he had a knee bent up on the sofa. I pushed myself on my feet with a grimace, throwing my hands out to balance myself. After a few seconds, he gasped to himself, and he played a riff I thought I'd heard once from Gabe's old rock albums. "Human that I saved."

His head lifted from a decorative pillow, and he offered me a blinding grin. "What do you think?" the god asked me. I blinked, not knowing what response he was hoping for. It didn't matter; he was already waving down a hand. "I know, I know. It's great. I just love haikus."

The immortal swung his legs over the edge of the sofa to stand up, and I couldn't help but gawk. Every god I had met so far had presented themselves so differently. While Poseidon radiated his power in a human form, this one appeared too beautiful to even pass as a mortal. He stood over ten feet tall, and his muscular body looked as if he'd been carefully carved from stone.

"Woah," I couldn't help but breathe. The god raised a brow proudly. I knew I wasn't the first to compliment him, though I was sure he was used to more words being stated. If he was human, I would have assumed for him to be in his early twenties. I didn't need to look at the large bow resting against his furniture to know his identity. Despite looking nothing like his son, I could still sense the impeccable resemblance. "You're Apollo."

"Lord Apollo," the sun god corrected me with a casual shrug, and the awe I felt for him dissipated. "You're still new to all of this." He didn't pay any attention to me stiffening, and he moved closer with ground-shaking steps."You're quite a feeble little thing, you know. That's what's so interesting about mortals. You all are so reckless with what you do."

He presented that thought as if it was common knowledge, and it was stated too easily to have been considered an insult. My lingering headache gave a painful throb, and I quickly pressed a hand to my forehead again. "What happened?"