Hermes | Book 1

: 14 :

                             When the world was clothed in darkness, you begged for only the light.
                            Now when the light became too harsh, why are you begging for the dark?

Chapter 14

AFTER THE  very eventful lunch, the house had gone back to its serenity. Julianna went somewhere to do some work, Rhea ran out of the house hollering that she was going to meet her friends and Ronan collapsed on the couch and promptly fell asleep.

Hermes realised with startling clarity that Asta was not just a regular visitor of the house, she was a member of the family. Even after her surprise arrival, they had gone back to their usual jobs as if she had been there all along.

Although he was half relived and half miffed about the fact that he was particularly ignored (not including the subtly flirtatious attitude of Rhea towards him which only did little to ease his ego), Hermes couldn't dwell much on it because Asta had dragged him out to sight see.

He wasn't sure what a person could sight see in a continent that could hardly feed itself three meals a day, but couldn't find it in himself to protest when he saw the happy sparkle in the depths of Asta's solemn eyes.

To Hermes, who had only seen her emotions equal to that of a partially dead creature, even the little happiness that remained like a steadily burning flame was a miracle in itself.

If Asta felt compelled to show him around the place which seemed to make her so alive, who was he to deny it?

He constantly wondered why she wasn't making more efforts to take him to Olympus, but decided to initiate that topic later in the day. A happy Asta meant that he would have to face lesser jabs and frozen silences and he would like to experience that for atleast a little while before he starts a conversation that will ultimately end with unfriendly words.

Maybe Asta was trying as hard as she could like she mentioned, but Hermes couldn't see any evidence and the constant itch to go home couldn't be scratched away; the most it did was draw blood.

Asta made a quick stop to the car to get a small forest green coloured bag (Hermes didn't bother to leave his last connection to Godhood in the car and had it with all along) and then they walked on the dirt path and crossed a few live oaks before entering the city part of the continent.

Educated by a very chatty Asta, Hermes learnt that unlike other continents where there were countless points that you could consider as the city excluding the main one, Eta had only one.

It was not because of the less than poor economic condition, but because some parts of it were so dense with forests- mainly because of Green World pact of 2714 during which the government desperately tried to stop the complete wipe out of trees by destroying property and covering as much as ground as possible with saplings- it was difficult to navigate and potentially dangerous due to the vast and cruel collection of biodiversity.

Fifty percent of Eta continent was covered in these types of forests. Humans could only use the ten percent of the leftover forests, that had less harmful trees. So wood was a rarity (according to Asta, sometime during 2700, wood was a banned substance. Usual of wooden appliances led to strict punishment and even death penalty in some places) and used as sparingly as possible.

It seems that nature finally learnt to retaliate to humans when it was triggered by near extinction.

Asta spoke with passion; the weak flame in her eyes wildly roaring with power.

Hermes also learnt that unlike his older knowledge, Eta constituted of only one-tenth of the total human population which in itself was only a meagre four million.

Every thing that fell out of Asta's mouth were something new to Hermes. It shamed him to know that even though he was a God of travel, such things were in the dark for him. The world that Asta described was a harsh, painful reality when all he had seen from the comfort of the skies was a beautiful painting with living, submissive creatures that would grovel to his every will.

Hermes didn't feel so important anymore.

Why had he not learnt of all this? What was he doing high up in the splendour when the very world that begged for his protection was unbeknownst to him? Why had he not heard their pleas? Where was he really in all these aeons that Asta so wonderfully narrated?

But his only answers were blank, black spots in his memory.

Hermes almost yelled in frustration but Asta, innocent, unknowing Asta, dragged him gently towards the city centre where a towering granite statue of a God stood proudly amongst the loud, lively hustle and bustle of the shops.

He mutely took in the muscular stature carved gloriously into the granite, the simple travellers outfit, curly hair with a thin crown with delicate wings, the divinely handsome face that held traces of a mischievous smirk, the casdacus and the winged shoes.

"Meet, Hermes, Lord of thieves, travellers and merchants," Asta announced in her quiet manner. "The patron God of Eta."