54 Destiny

Pandora yelled, releasing all of her emotions. "I HATE YOU!"

Her roar shook the city of the sun to its foundation, plunging it into momentary chaos and disorder.

Each step she took towards Apollo shattered the ground. Deep cracks slithered through the ivory columns of the Parthenon, causing it to shudder. The divine statue of Apollo fell from the altar after losing its balance. The divine sun emblem engraved above it had cracked into pieces.

Pandora yelled at the top of her lungs as she punched Apollo in the chest with all her might.

BOOM!

The Parthenon collapsed on itself after a wave erupted. The ivory pillars were shattered into shards. However, Apollo waved his hand away, erasing the spreading wave. The aftermath, however, was felt for 50 miles, thoroughly quivering the ground.

"WHY?" Pandora yelled, punching him in the chest repeatedly. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS? WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME?! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THE TRUTH! BUT YOU LET ME WALK ME ON THIS WRETCHED PATH. WHY? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CRUEL?"

She broke into tears, collapsing onto his chest.

The Parthenon was in ruins, with dust and smoke filling the air, and they stood in the middle of a massive crater littered with rubble and debris.

Apollo embraced her, patting her back. His other hand waved in the air, and smoke and dust flew away, revealing Delphi and Trier unaffected. Then, with a snap of his fingers, rays of light blossomed around the ruined Parthenon, rising and merging. It transformed into a light curtain that draped over the Parthenon, obstructing all prying and probing eyes.

Apollo whispered gently. "It had to be this way."

To Pandora, the gentle voice sounded like the cruellest thing in existence. In despair and agony, it shattered and broke her again and again.

She jerked away from her embrace and stared at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean it had to be this way?"

Apollo pointed to the golden box in her other hand, which she still clutched as if her life depended on it.

"Destiny." He sighed. "Many people believe destiny is unassailable, invincible, and unbreakable. And, in some ways, it is. However, it could still be broken. Then, the very invulnerable destiny will become the most fragile thing in existence. A single Destined event could split into millions or billions of different outcomes. The river of destiny will erupt in chaos. There will be an endless number of possibilities and paths."

"And that's exactly what I wanted to avoid...."

"Destiny? What does it have to do with me or us? I don't understand!" Pandora snapped, though an ominous foreboding filled her heart. She gripped the golden box tightly, golden ichor dripping from her hands.

Apollo walked towards her. He made his voice as gentle and soothing as possible.

"Pandora. Destiny has everything to do with it."

"Your original destiny was absolutely predetermined. It was unavoidable and inevitable, and even the Fates themselves couldn't intervene and alter it."

"It was different yet similar to the present. You were crafted by Hephaestus, and my father gave you life…..."

"No," Pandora said quietly, her voice cracking.

Apollo continued to tell the truth.

"My father granted you a pithos with the evils and told you not to open it. But you did it by giving in to your curiosity. You were always destined to bring evils into the world."

"Stop…" Pandora collapsed on the floor.

"But, Pandora, you were also destined to close the jar before the last one could escape, sealing it. And it saved humanity."

"Please…." Tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto the floor.

"Pandora, I wanted that. So I created you and forced you to bear the cruel destiny. This was the only way I could prevent the Fates from interfering with destiny..."

Apollo, crouched in front of the trembling Pandora, fixed his gaze on her. "And, yes, I had the power to break it, but doing so would have given the Fates the power to intervene and tamper with shattered destiny. I wanted to avoid that to get what I desired. That's why, Pandora, that's why...."

"HERE!" Pandora hurled the golden box at him. "TAKE YOUR PRECIOUS BOX!"

She hollered. "AND LEAVE."

Apollo caught the golden box and placed it aside, his eyes still solely focused on her.

"I will not ask for forgiveness, Pandora….."

Pandora whimpered, her figure falling to the ground. "Please just leave.....Please...."

Apollo placed his hands on her shoulders and caught her. Her head was bowed, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she refused to look at him.

Nonetheless, he continued solemnly, his voice cracking.

"…. as there is no excuse for the cruel destiny I put you through, and I don't deserve it."

Pandora snapped her weary and bloody eyes at him and asked, her words drowning in pain and misery.

"How can you be so cruel? What was I to you? A object? A thing? A item to fulfil your ambitions…"

"No…." Apollo shook his head vehemently. "You are my…"

"My creation…" Pandora finished for him. A rueful smile on her lips. "I know. I am just your creation, and you are my creator. I understand everything now, exactly as you said."

She locked her gaze on him. "And I am eternally grateful that I am not the actual daughter of a MAN LIKE YOU!"

Apollo looked away from her eyes, not meeting her raging and desperate gaze, his figure quivering ever so slightly.

As she rose from the ruined ground, Pandora flung his hands away from her shoulders. Her figure weathered. Her hair dishevelled. Her eyes weary.

She heaved out. "You promised a choice for my path in Olympus, and I now ask for it."

Apollo rose from the ground and gazed at her silently.

Then, Pandora demanded, her each word filled with loathing.

"I want you to take away my immortality."

"No!" Apollo snapped.

"Yes," Pandora said, her voice cracking. "I don't want you or anything remotely related to you in my remaining life."

"You will die in the end!" Apollo desperately grabbed her shoulders.

Pandora laughed—a laugh that spoke volumes about her anguish and despair.

"Why do you look like you care?! Do you really do now? Don't tell me you had a ridiculous change of heart after everything you put me through to get what you desired. But it really doesn't matter to me because..."

"DEATH IS BETTER THAN A LIFE WITH YOU!"

"Listen to me…" Apollo whispered, tightening his hold on her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "Pandora, please listen to me..."

"No," Pandora stated emphatically. "I've made my decision."

"At the very least, my creator, uphold this and fulfil your promise."

Apollo stared at her in heavy silence, his hands falling from her shoulders, his strength dwindling.

He still asked. "Are you certain? Will you not even hear me?"

Pandora didn't respond. Her hardened and determined gaze fixed on him.

Apollo's golden eyes went completely dark. Then he raised his hand and pointed to her, snapping his trembling fingers.

Whips of brilliant light emerged from Pandora, leaving her figure behind and dissipating into nothingness.

Pandora closed her eyes. Her figure appeared to dim and dampen.

Mortality filled her mind, body, and soul.

Then, with her eyes still closed, she turned and walked out with firm steps.

Tears trickled down onto the ground.

"I hope I will never meet you again."

"My creator..."

At last, Apollo looked on with dimmed eyes at her departing figure, his figure frozen in place, as if hoping she would turn back and look at him one last time.

Pandora, on the other hand, walked and walked away from Apollo, her unwavering figure slowly fading into the darkness of the night, never once looking back at him.

Then, she was gone.

Apollo closed his eyes in pain, raising his face to the night and exhaling heavily in the sunken silence.

_______________

As Apollo entered, Hecate rose from her chair; his eyes and figure, both literally and metaphorically, dimmed and became dark.

"Oh, Apollo..." She hugged him in sadness.

Apollo stepped out of her embrace and sat in the chair, his despondent expression illuminated by the stars.

Hecate sat beside him in the next chair, holding his hands tightly in hers. She then poured a glass of ambrosia for him and handed it to him.

Apollo took the glass and drank it all in a cup before returning it to her for more. Hecate then poured out more for him. This continued over and over again as her brows furrowed in deep worry.

"Apollo." Hecate called in distress and pain, refusing to pour for him now. "Please don't drink yourself into despair; it won't help."

Apollo sighed deeply and set the glass down on the table. Then, he retrieved the golden box and threw it at the table, clanging with a reckoning sound.

"Is that…" Hecate asked, her attention drawn to the golden box.

"The cursed box." Apollo whispered, his voice strained. "It contained all the evils. Pandora opened it and unleashed it under my order. But there was something more in it, something that didn't manage to escape the box with the rest of its kin, something that is now the last pillar of support for civilization."

Hecate turned toward him in silence.

"It is..." Apollo drawled. "Hope."

"You wanted hope." Hecate spoke softly.

"Yes." Apollo nodded, "I did all that just for…."

He ruefully smiled. "Hope."

"I am sorry, Apollo." Hecate immediately hugged him.

"Don't be, my love." Apollo whispered, patting her hair. "Every action has consequences. And I will bear it all."

He immediately rose from his seat with Hecate and grabbed the golden box.

"Are you sure about this?" Hecate gazed at the golden box. "You could wait until..."

"No." Apollo held the box firmly. "I will bear everything."

Hecate stared at him with emotional eyes before nodding and embracing him from the side.

Apollo lifted his box and rested his hand on the lid. Then he opened it, and the world itself seemed to darken, drowning in despair.

A faint and dim sparkle of light emerged.

It was Hope.

Apollo raised his hands and gently grasped it in his palms.

He whispered softly. "I am sorry for your fate....."

"But I will let your light shine brighter and brilliant throughout all of the cosmos."

"I promise."

The Hope shimmered. The last vestiges of its will faded away into nothingness, acknowledging his promise.

With that, Apollo felt his vision darken. Everything then vanished. Hecate, Delphi, and Trier all sank into obscurity.

He found himself floating in the void, surrounded by infinite dark orbs of flickering light—universes—and before him loomed three tremendous figures: a young lady in a tight pink gown, a plump woman with spiky hair, and a hag in dusty robes.

They were the Kindly Ones; the Erinyes; the Three Witches; the Norns; the Moirai; and the Furies.

Ultimately, they were the mighty Fates.

But their figures were anything but mighty; their weaving hands were shackled by grey chains of destiny, forbidding them from tampering with the shimmering thread of fate that floated in front of them.

The Fates immediately snapped their eyes at Apollo.

And they bellowed in unison.

"BLASHMPHER!"

Their roar erupted like a raging tsunami, sweeping across countless universes, dimensions, and even boundless hell and limitless planes.

RUMBLE!

And the infinite multiverse trembled.

"HOW DARE YOU?" They hollered. "HOW DARE YOU BIND US?!"

With surging golden eyes brimming with emotions, Apollo looked at the bound Fates and trembling Multiverse, unaffected by their terrifying roars.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his chaotic emotions.

Then he raised his hand.

And he pointed his middle finger at the Fates.

"Fuck you bitches!"

Immediately, Apollo grasped his other hand with Hope tightly.

Under the raging eyes of Fates, the weak sparkle of light touched his skin in his other hand, merging with him in the darkness of the void.

The dimmed eyes of Apollo brightened with gentle light; his hair grew long and long, dyeing in shades of white. A white halo embellished his head, and twelve massive white wings sprung from his back, emitting infinite light that lit the dark void.

He had ascended, ascended to become the God of Hope.

With that, everything in his vision shattered like glass under the roars of the Fates. Apollo was back in Delphi, still in Hecate's embrace. His figure, however, was different in his divine form as the God of Hope.

"You are beautiful…" Hecate started in his new form, breathless.

Apollo immediately turned toward Hecate, embracing her tightly and breathing heavily.

Hecate firmly returned it in silence.

After a few moments, Apollo left her embrace and pointed at the darkened and despairing world.

Hecate nodded, realising what he had to do.

With teary eyes, she watched him walk away.

__________

Apollo approached the Sun Chariot, his figure bathed in the gentle light of his divine wings.

His four stallions, white with golden manes, stamped and dashed towards him.

Boss! Pyrois called.

You are finally here. Phlegon neighed.

We almost thought you had abandoned us! Aeos whined.

I despise Nicholas and Castor! Atheon grumbled. They never gave us breaks or snacks.

They neighed, their eyes flashed gold, and their hooves sparked on the flagstones as they nuzzled towards him.

"Hush now..." Apollo smiled, patting each of their heads gently. "I am here. And we have work to do. The world needs our help and support now more than ever."

They whined and reared. Nonetheless, they followed him to the Sun Chariot. And Apollo helped them into the position of the head of the golden chariot, tying in their reins.

Lined before them were the massive gates of dawn. Apollo ascended in his chariot, holding the ends of the reins in his hands.

The gates of dawn slowly opened. His figure emitted an infinite amount of gentle light. He yanked on the reins. The four horses pricked their ears, shuddered, and reared as if it were a signal. The chariot beneath him began to ascend into the darkened and desolate world.

A golden gleam of light emerged from the horizon. And humanity looked at it together with dimmed eyes.

The Golden Sun ascended, shedding infinite scintillations of gentle and warm light, so bright and dazzling that it drowned the Despair and melted the Darkness of the world.

Sunlight poured across the infinite sky, into the boundless earth, and into limitless hearts, bathing all in an eternal golden glow.

It brought with it Hope, igniting their minds to Dream of better times and a better future.

Hope burned brighter than ever in the light.

After all, Light was the meaning of everything.