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Shot by a
golden arrow, Apollo has only truly loved Daphne. He visits her each eclipse,
and longs for reunion. He seeks the Fates’s advice and learns he may finally
restore Daphne to her true water nymph form by enlisting other gods’
assistance.
If Apollo
fails Daphne will be lost to him forever. To regain Daphne’s soul, Apollo must
deal with the devil, King of the Underworld.
Love-torn and treacherous, Hades would slay the pantheon to remain with
his wife for the full year. Apollo’s quest might just give Hades the leverage
he needs to do so.
Will
Pheobus Apollo surrender the sun to try to reclaim love? Can he break Daphne’s
curse or will his attempts destroy her forever? Will she still love him after
millennia as a soulless tree? With the end of the quest see Apollo rising, or
in sunset?
Excerpt:
A soft glow beckoned from around a corner. While Hades pretended to be a
traditionalist, he indulged in modern conveniences every chance he could.
Ultra-violet panels, the ones mortals used to simulate sunlight, glowed from
inside the walls. They brought day into the vaulted cavern. Hades had encrusted
the ceiling with aquamarines since Apollo’s last visit. The light played off
them simulating a summer sky. Another token of Hades’s love. Stalactites wider
than a city bus hung from the ceiling. Others met stalagmites to form fluted
columns reminiscent of the Pantheon. Stone draperies served as curtains, which
separated Persphone’s chamber, and Hades’s media room from the main audience
hall.
Reaching the center of the room, Apollo dropped to one knee.
“Lord Hades, I come to you as a supplicant.”
Hades could have
passed for one of the stalagmites with his sharp and jagged features. His skin
held a bluish cast from lack of sunlight. Obsidian color hair hung loose to his
shoulders. Flint hard eyes glared at Apollo.
Persephone, on the other
hand, reminded Apollo of a spring breeze. Sunshine colored hair swept away from
olive skin, slightly pales in her time in the Underworld. Her bright
ginger-colored tunic broke the unrelieved grays and blacks of the great hall.
“What brings you here?” Hades’s voice reverberated through the chamber.
Apollo raised an eyebrow. “I seek information, and possibly a trade.”
“Rise.”
The few times Apollo had needed something from Hades,
he’d been treated as an honored guest. But not this time.
Enraged to the
point of incivility by Persephone’s upcoming desertion, Hades was likely to vent
his temper on any target. Sadly, Apollo provided him with one that could give
him a decent fight. Daphne’s soul might cost more than Apollo could pay.
“What do you wish of me?” Hades asked.
“I wish to barter for
Daphne’s soul.”
“I never said I had her.”
They’d never been
friends, but then, they hadn’t been enemies either. There really wasn’t any
reason for Hades to oppose Apollo’s attempt to rescue Daphne.
“Does that
mean you are going to vie her to me?” Apollo asked.
“Give? Give? Now why
would I do that?” Hades’s laugh grated in Apollo’s ears.
“What do you
want, Hades?”
His gaze went hard. “A boon.”
“What kind?”
“Unlimited. To be provided when I demand.”
Apollo choked. If he
agreed Hades could demand anything from him. Even the sun. The God of the
Underworld had never been happy with his lot. Hades had helped his brothers,
Zeus and Poseidon, wrestle the cosmos from Cronus. The brothers then drew lots
for their domains. Zeus chose the sky, which is why Apollo as his son, was the
Sun God. Poseidon chose the sea. But the brothers tricked Hades into becoming
Death. In choosing the underworld, Hades lost the ability to walk comfortably in
the sunlight. But if he took the sun from Apollo, Hades could remain above
ground with Persphone.
Could Phoebus Apollo lose the sun?
Who
would he be without it?
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