Anonymia Eoptenia

The boy was growing up beautifully. At the tender age of eight, he had already surpassed Narcissus in gorgeousness with his golden locks, bow like scarlet lips and stormy grey eyes that held in them a sadness beyond his years. He was every inch Helen with a masculine swank and Hades found himself as enraptured with him as he had once been with Persephone when first saw her all those millennia ago frolicking among the flowers of her mother’s garden. He was more damned than those who swam the dank waters of the Tartarus.

Yet no matter how deep his growing affection for the boy was he did not go to him but his foolhardy nephew Hermes did and seeing them both together arose within him the savage beast of jealousy. No, the boy had came to him.

It was one fine evening, when the crisp summer sun’s light tickled the leaves of Abaddon’s, nay Vangelis’s hideaway. Hermes had left the boy after he had talked on and on about his new and only friend Ikaros. Hades could see that Hermes grew angrier and angrier as the boy went on, but could not pinpoint the cause of his anger. It amused the god of the underworld to know that his nephew too struggled with the sudden desire.

The swift-footed messenger eventually left in a huff, mumbling about a mission from Zeus. An excuse no doubt to make a quick getaway. Vangelis did not look affronted by his sudden absence, only silently thoughtful. Hades turned and nodded at Ares who quickly followed Hermes back to Olympus. Eris had not appeared this meeting, giving Hades a sick feeling inside that Hera was planning something.

He made a turn to leave as well when movement from Vangelis made him pause in his steps. The young lad moved his finger to and fro wanting someone to come to him and Hades knew in his heart that Vangelis wanted him.

“I must not come out.” he said.

“You have been watching me since I was six.” Vangelis told him, shocking Hades with his observation skills. “Who are you who hides in the shadows?”

Hades took a few steps into the sunlight that streamed through the leaves.

“I am Hades.” he said simply and felt a stab of ill-humor when Vangelis released a childish gasp.

“A-are you here to take me to the underworld?” the boy whispered.

“No, I am merely a silent watcher.”

Vangelis nodded and the fear that was in his eyes disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Then you are not the god that everyone says you are.”

“Oh, and what do people say about me?” A small, crooked smile grew on Hades’s face.

The stories which the mortals made up about him were greatly amusing.

“That you kidnap souls against their will and drag them into the Tartarus.” Vangelis said.

“Mere stories I assure you,” he moved closer to the child and watched as he unconsciously took a step back in return. So the fear has not entirely disappeared, he thought with a frown.

“Only those whose time has run out come with me to the underworld.”

“A person’s time can run out at any given moment.”

“And yet many of you mortals live as though you are immortal as a god.” Hades retorted.

Vangelis looked away from him meekly and he instantly regretted his harsh tone. Vangelis was not the cause of his forefathers follies. Hades placed a comforting hand on the boy’s head, causing the blond to shiver. The clammy cold of the dead was still upon him. He retracted his hand.

“Please forgive me for disturbing your tranquility.” Hades said bitterly and was shocked when Vangelis grabbed his hand and held it within his small soft one.

“Will I see you again?” he sounded every bit like the boy he was for the first time. It came to Hades that the boy’s constant presence with gods were affecting him in someway. He just didn't know if it was for the best or the worst.

“What need do you have for the god of darkness?” Hades quipped.

“I do not have many friends. The only one I have is Ikaros.”

“Does Hermes not meet your criteria for a friend?”

Hades could not entertain the thoughts of being with the boy and yet, he could not stop the hopeful tone which invaded his normally snarky baritone voice.

“I do not know where I stand with him.” Vangelis said honestly. “We only meet once every year.”

So Hermes was keeping his distance? Interesting to say the least. This was his chance to get closer to the boy. And get his heart. He violently pushed away the thought.

“We can only meet once a week. After all, I have an underworld to run.” he replied flippantly.

Vangelis’s smile was like that of a cherub’s. Hades forced himself to not look away from the boy’s splendor. He could not remember the last time he had encountered such innocents. His own wife Persephone had been anything but an unblossomed flower when he had first met her.

“Please,” Vangelis grew closer and Hades’s hand trembled within his. The boy smelt of lilies. “Could you address me by my name?”

Hades faced him and cupped his cheek tenderly. Hades could have sworn at his back that he heard a gasp and a sob of some sort. That can’t be. I must be hearing things.

“Vangelis.”

The son of Helen still stood there trembling when Hades had left. What were these feelings sprouting within his heart?

“So now you see.”

Persephone looked up from her tears to see Hera who stood there with Eris who looked absolutely giddy. She hated her with a passion, hated them both. She did not want to admit they had been right about Hades...her mother had been right about Hades. She wished to go back to her times of naivete where she was just his simple wife and stayed out his affairs. She had seen too much.

Hades...and that boy. That damned boy! She recognized the look that had been in Hades eyes.It had been the same look he had when he first met her in the fields.

“I am sorry Persephone.” Hera said softly.

No you aren’t, she thought with her lips trembling. Hera patted her head as if she were a small child and vanished along with Eris who smirked in her general direction. They left her to the loud roar of her thoughts. She couldn’t stay in the palace any longer. Not while the heart of Hades belonged to another. She had known his affection for her would dwindle.

She was merely a toy; entertainment for the god of the dead. She kept her head high as she silently packed her things. Goodbye Hades my love.

“Solon he is looking more and more like her everyday.”

“Elpis please calm yourself before someone hears you!” the trader hissed.

“How can I when I go to the market and hear everyone’s vile whispers? They say he is a bastard son born from your intercourse with a siren.” she cried out.

“Let them talk all they like. It is he who we should-”

“Father?”

Solon whipped around and stared at Simonides who stood there in the wooden doorway. he ran up to his son, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him fiercely as his wife begged him to stop. The madness of his Minoan ancestors was upon him.

“Did you hear anything boy?” he yelled.

“No, of course not father.”

His voice sounded innocent and his eyes were ignorant. Solon released the sigh he had been holding deep in his chest and his son.

“Good, what is it you desire my son?”he asked in a much softer tone.

“You promised to show me the trade today father. I am turning thirteen today.” he said, bouncing back and forth on his heels and toes, excitement prominent in his voice.

“That you are my son, that you are. We shall have a large banquet in celebration! Where is your brother?”

Simonides crinkled his nose and Solon resisted commenting.

“He is with that friend of his, playing Zeus only knows where.”

He had long since stopped looking for his brother’s hideaway and harbored a deep resentment towards him for it. What was he hiding? And for that matter, what were his parents hiding? he had caught the last throes of his parent’s conversation and it sent his mind whirling. Vangelis was a bastard?

He had thought it for quite some time and to hear it validated sent a thrill of dark glee through him. Ever since his father had brought him home, his mother had turned her attention to their new child and hadn't thought of Simonides since. He was jealous of his younger brother and while he was stronger and more capable, Vangelis was the more attractive of the two brothers by far, turning many a head in their village of Canea. When his father took them both to town, it was his younger brother who gained all the attention. What made him angry was that he pretended to be ignorant of his good looks.

What Simonides wouldn't give to have his blond locks and his feminine, almost cherub like, face.

“We will worry about him later,” Solon said, interrupting Simonides’ thoughts. His face looked troubled.

“Let’s head to the harbor. There is much to be done. I must invite all to my son’s becoming of a man.”

Solon was a respected member of his village and a trusted sailor and trader. His roots could be traced back to Crete’s ancestors and he wore his Minoan heritage proudly, occasionally praying to goddesses of the old religion.

Yes, Simonides thought darkly, we will worry about him later.

“Today is my brother’s birthday,” Vangelis whispered. “Usually by now, my mother is preparing the dinner while father gathers the guests, using his lineage as though that will garner everyone’s pity.”

“Why do you not join her my friend?” his friend Ikaros said softly, his emerald eyes sparkling with unasked questions.

“My brother has always hated and bullied me with his many friends in the village.”

Vangelis rested his head on his knees and his eyes over the pure white stones on the harbor below. He saw his brother with his chest puffed up like a peacock, on his father’s heels and talking, bragging it looked like to Vangelis, to the sailors and merchants around him who were too bemused at his antics to chastise him.

“It’s always been an unspoken law between us that I disappear while everyone else is celebrating. Lest I “grab a hold of everyone’s attention”. “ he smiled sadly.

“Will your parents be angry with you?” Ikaros asked, reaching over and grabbing his hand.

Ikaros had a hair of dark brown hair, which seemed black in certain lighting, as like everyone else in the village. His most intriguing feature were his eyes that were a striking deep green. Vangelis and he had met in the market when Vangelis had been running from Simonides and his goons while his father was away making a purchase. Ikaros had seen the poor boy and hid him away from his brother, no questions asked, behind his parent’s winery, the only one in town and the finest in all of Canea. He had acquired Vangelis’s friendship then and they had been close to each other ever since that day.

“Yes, usually they are lenient with me however, there will be a plethora of people there wondering where I am. My father will not be happy. He will take this as a slight against him and his reputation.”

Recently his father had become cold to Vangelis, barely sparing a glance towards the lad. His mother hurriedly told him that it was stress from his work, but Vangelis knew it was for a different reason. A reason she couldn't, tell him. Out of all his family, Vangelis was closer to his mother who coddled him daily. He found her coddling tiresome, for he was only but three years away from being a man, however he valued her affection in a house where he got so little.

“I’m sure it won’t be as horrible as you think. What could your brother do with all those people watching?”

Oh Ikaros, he can do plenty of things. It was times like this where he wished he was with Hades. Hades knew of his brother’s true character and would have agreed with him to not go. He couldn't wait to see the god and feel his hands caressing his head. Vangelis felt his face heat up tremendously and attempted to hide it the best he could from his friend Ikaros who gazed at him with a puzzled expression. The infatuation he had with the dark god was mortifying.

Hades was always there for him, lending an ear to his, as he would always call them playfully, pitiful mortal problems. He listened to them all the same, no matter how mundane, and offered his wise counsel. Vangelis, now that he had spent many an hour in his company, couldn't figure out why the people around him feared Hades. He was charming, witty- bitingly so-, and handsome, whilst being unconventionally so. While Zeus was shown to be rugged, Hades was more thin in appearance with high cheekbones and long lashes.

If Vangelis could concentrate enough, he could feel him beside him, wrapping his arms around his torso, and gently putting his-

“Vangelis?” came the voice of Ikaros, cutting into his fantasy.

“Wha- Yes?!”

Vangelis’s blush grew redder. He was caught fantasizing about Hades, again. He had been doing it too many times as of late. Ikaros would simply sit in wonder at where his friend’s mind was traveling to that got him so flustered. Was it a girl in the village?

“It is getting late.” said Ikaros as he got up from his perch by the harbor and dusted off his garment.
And it was. The sun was now replaced by the pure white moon, the work of Helios no doubt. He reluctantly joined his, dusting himself off as well.

“I guess you’re right. Let’s go.”

They walked briskly to Vangelis’s home with Ikaros wanting to talk and Vangelis lost in his thoughts giving him merely one word answers and grunts. Dread was settling deep into the very confines of his stomach. As of now he no longer truly worried for his brother’s choice words but his fathers. While the man valued soberness he was known to getting sloshed on such occasions as these. They paused in front of the house and could hear the rousing sounds of singing from within the home, not quite deafening but the sounds of the drunken men could be heard from the outside.

The loudest one being his father. Elpis had lit up every candle in the house it seemed and their house looked to be bathed in light and could help lost sailors on their way home. Vangelis said a swift goodbye to Ikaros and hugged him tightly. Ikaros had half a mind to stay with his friend, however, he knew of his foolish pride and reluctantly left for his own home, with the hopes that Vangelis would be alright.

Vangelis went inside and was met to the sight of his brother at the helm of the table, surrounded by men and woman drunk on wine. The singing was now louder now that he was on the inside of the house and Vangelis could hear the words of the song clearly.

Immortal Aphrodite, beautiful-throned, wiles-weaving child of Zeus,
I beg you, Queen, do not torment my heart with sorrow and pain but come and
help me again as you did before when having heard my pleadings from far away
you left your father's golden palace and yoked to your shining chariot swift,
lovely sparrows that brought you over the dark earth, moving their thick-feathered wings through the sky's bright ether….

He closed the door behind him and sat at the far end of the room away from the rowdy public’s eye. He prayed to the gods that no one saw his late arrival. he had no such luck.

“Boy?” his father shouted, who stood by Simonides at the head of the table.

“How dare you show up late to your brother’s celebration!”

The man was drunk, evident by his insistent slurring and reddish eyes. Vangelis shrunk in his chair at everyone’s eyes flying in his direction. He did not miss the triumphant look on his brother’s face.

“Father please, I lost track of time.” it was the best lie he could come up with.

“You knew today was special and insisted on being away!” Solon continued bellowing.

Tears he struggled to suppress burned behind Vangelis’s eyes.

“Father…” he said pathetically.

“Well father, it’s only to be expected from a bas-”

Before Simonides, or Vangelis, could blink, Solon was up and backhanded him across the face. Simonides fell to the floor and groaned, more out of shock than actual pain. Suddenly there were no more songs being sung. The guests watched enraptured as the drama unfolded.

“Solon!” Elpis cried out in horror.

Vangelis got up ,knocking down his chair.

“I’m sorry I ruined the celebration.” he said miserably.

He fled into the night, faintly hearing his mother call his name. He didn’t stop running until he collapsed on the forest floor of his hideaway, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Hades,” he cried out. “Hades!”

The god appeared swiftly and silently and stared down in absolute bafflement at the hysterical mortal.

“Vangelis….” he said softly, coming closer to him and settled by his side.

“Please, hold me.” Vangelis said, his bottom lip quivering.

Hades could not say no to those large blue eyes and gathered him into his arms, and cooed soothing nothings into his ears until he fell into a troubled sleep, still whimpering into Hades’s criton. He held Vangelis far into the night.

Once Solon had gotten a hold of himself and what he had done he felt suddenly very sober. He sent everybody home, no doubt with the juicy story of him yelling at his ‘love child’ on their lips. He went out to find Vangelis, leaving a disappointed Elpis and a resentful Simonides, who had scampered off to his room after the events had transpired. Despite this, he couldn’t think of them now, his mind was filled with thoughts of Vangelis.

Vangelis my precious boy, he thought sadly. When he had adopted the boy all those years ago, he had made a promise to the gods to look after him. He had turned his back on his promise. Shameful, why has not Zeus struck me down yet?

He scoured his village for any and all signs of him until the breaking of dawn. His heart hurt as though being stepped on by the sandals of a soldier. Where was his son? He came across a forest like area and in the distance he could see the back of someone’s black criton and tufts of blond hair. Vangelis! But, who was that man he was with?

The man turned to face him and Solon let out a growl and ran up closer to the god.

“Hades!”

The god’s only response to this was a small smirk which only served to get Solon angrier.

“I won’t allow you to take him!”

“Be at peace Solon of Crete. I am not here to take your son.”

A sense of peace washed over Solon at Hades’s silky baritone voice and Vangelis’s behavior all began to make sense.

“It is you he disappears during the day to see.” he proclaimed.

“I am he.” Hades replied with a tilt of his head.

“But, why Vangelis?” Solon struggled to wrap his mind around the concept of the god’s interest.

“I think the sentence you mean to say is why Abaddon?”

Sweat formed on Solon’s brow and that night from all those years ago went through his mind. The midwife. The cliff. Abaddon.

“How do you know-” he began to say.

“He has made a very strong enemy on Mount Olympus. I am one of the few who watch over him.” he stated.

One of the few? Solon dare not asked how many more gods were watching.

“Are you… his enemy?” he asked at last.

“Nay, only his friend.”

The man of Crete went to ask more questions but was stopped by Hades’s silencing hand.

“Now is not the time. Take the boy. It will soon be morning.”

Solon picked up Vangelis without a word and headed back home, his mind filled with questions. Hades smiled at his back and disappeared back to the Underworld.

When Vangelis awoke from his deep slumber the name of the god of death was upon his lips. Where was he? Where was Hades? He gazed about his room and blinked away sudden tears at the sun’s harsh rays through his window. He was...back home?

How? Did Hades bring him back or did-

“Your god is back in the Underworld.”

Vangelis’s heart flew into his throat as his eyes landed on his father who sat in a chair by the door. He looked like he had not slept in ages.

“Father I,” Vangelis swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I ruined your celebration.”

Solon got up from his chair and gathered his son up in a tight embrace.

“Nay my son, it was I who am to be sorry. I allowed my temper to get the best of me.”

Vangelis moved over allowing Solon more room and laid his head on his chest.

“How...how do you know of Hades?” the boy asked

Now that his hideaway had been found he felt...release somewhat. He was rather glad it was his father instead of his brother.

“When I went looking for you,” Solon began his tale breathlessly. “ I found your place by chance, whether or not the Fates ordained it to be so I do not know. I saw him there clearly, holding you as he would a doll. I thought you were dead. We...we talked some and he revealed that he and others have been watching you.”

“Watching me, what for?” Vangelis asked, furrowing his brow.

“I do not know my son.”

But I fear for you more than you can ever know.

“Please do not keep me from him!” he pleaded.

“I will not,” Solon told him with much difficulty. “I only ask that you tell your mother when you will leave till this day on.”

“I promise.”