The Taste Of Divinity

Τ Ρ Ι Α

"Look into my eyes, soldier."

The soldier stood deadly still before him. His shaven head was bowed, his eyes on the granite floor, counting the cracks.

His breaths came out loud, sharp and forced. Anything to keep his shoulders from shaking. Anything to keep his fleshless body from betraying his nerves.

He was terrified, terrified of facing the one whose name alone birthed terror in the souls of men. And how could he not? He was only a boy, after all.

"Do not make me repeat myself."

The boy lifted his chin, obeying the thunderous command, his faded brown eyes meeting the abyss Aidoneus was cursed to carry inside his divine body.

The Lord of the Dead had been expecting a warrior, someone with tired eyes and scars decorating his bronzed skin. He'd been expecting someone who had welcomed death with open arms, but instead, once his black, bottomless eyes opened, he saw that he'd been rewarded with a boy that hadn't even witnessed ten whole summers. A boy that had met death before he had a chance to become acquainted with life.

"I hear that you killed one of the generals of your Ageli for harming a girl." The King closed his eyes once more as his back met the jewelled throne. He tightened his grip on the crimson stones he held, caging them between his fingers.

"Y-yes, Polydegmon. I did." There was a hint pride in his voice. Still, he kept his head bowed, much too afraid to look into the eyes of the dreadful God with the deep, seductive voice.

"Your name?"

"Alexis, my Lord."

The defender, Hades thought grimly, his lips barely even twitching, how fitting.

"It was very brave of you, Alexi, to attack a man who was both older and better trained than you. Would you care to share the details with me?"

The boy with the shaven head nodded.

"That night, the night I was killed," the words came out heavy, almost incomprehensible, thick with emotion and tears he would do anything to choke back down.

Tears were frowned upon in Sparta. They were a sign of weakness and weakness was, under no circumstances, tolerated.

But he wasn't in Sparta, anymore, even if he could still see the orange trees whenever he closed his eyes, even if he could still taste the sweetness of the fruit on the roof of his mouth. Sparta could be nothing but a distant memory from now on.

Nothing but a dream of what used to be.

"That night," He kept repeating that phrase as if he hadn't left his last breath only hours before, as if many years had passed since he'd last seen the stars. "I was restless, tossing and turning in my bed. There was-is. . . was a boy in the room and he wouldn't stop murmuring in his sleep, kept me awake. The others were asleep and I didn't want to wake up anyone. So, I snuck out and went for a stroll in the fields. It was dark, very dark but I saw a light in the distance as I continued to walk-"

"Stop." The King did not raise his voice, his expression did not alter in the slightest and yet the young Spartan lost what little colour he had left. "I believe you're lying to me, Alexi."

One of the rubies broke in two but Hades kept on pressing harder and harder, letting the jewel pierce his flesh but hardly feeling it.

"No, no, my Lord. I'm not. I did go to the fields, I did. I just. . ." Alexis swallowed nervously, averting his eyes once more, this time in shame. "I stopped by my father's grave first."