Mythology One Shots and Imagines

Apollo- Lyre (a)

You sat next to the hearth, the fire crackling in the pit and sending plumes of smoke up and out of the chimney. No matter how hard you tried you could just not get your lyre to make any kind of recognisable noise. Imagine that, a heritage of bards known from Crete to Macedonia, yet you could not get your hands to create a single chord, let alone a whole song.

The instrument, passed down from your father, sat in your hands as you strummed along the strings, hoping to create a mellifluous sound that even the gods would admire.

"Oh, forget it." You thought to yourself, throwing the instrument to the stone floor. "Even Apollo, son of Zeus, could not help me. The hearth began to spark and crackle, a blinding light cascaded through the windows of the house, and the roar of a hundred horses filled your ears and then... nothing.

Normal light returned to your eyes as you struggled to keep them open, everything was a haze except the outline of a figure standing in the middle of the room, inspecting your instrument. A quiver of arrows hung gracefully around his shoulders and a golden lyre hung at his hip.

"Look..." You called trying not to sound scared. "...I do not know who you are but by the power of Zeus I will strike you down where you stand should you not leave my estate." The figure looked behind him, as if looking for another person, before turning back to you and pointing at himself.

"What... me?" He looked genuinely perplexed.

"Yes... you!" There was nothing in the room that could be used as a weapon in case this invaded decided to attack you.

"Pfft... dad's a pushover." He brushed off your response. "You might as well swear by the might of a daffodil."

"Dad?... did somebody hit you over the head?" He chuckled and threw the lyre back at you, which you just managed to catch.

"Na... I don't think so anyway... I am Apollo, and I believe you requested my help..."

"Did I?"

"Well... you said my name and I was making a quick from to Athens to visit Athena, so I figured why not stop by, I had 10 minutes. So... how can I help?" He invited himself to take a seat.

"I need learning the ways of the bard, I just can not seem to get any better at using this damned thing."

His eye's lit up and he seemed excited.

"Well champ, there is one clear way to get better at an instrument, it is a secret that only the gods and a few very lucky mortal men know, I can tell you this secret."

Your heart began to pound, what was this secret? Did it involve some sort of blood ritual? A sacrifice greater than any others?

"Lean in, we can't have anybody undeserving knowing this secret, older than the Gaia herself."

You leant in to Apollo as he commanded, all of these scenarios racing through your head.

"Practise."

"Wait... what?"

"Well, I gotta go. Would you look at the time?" He looked at his wrist, where a watch would be before zipping up to the sky, the roar of the horses began anew.

~*~

Written by Aaron.