Loving Apollo

                                                      Loving Apollo                                                  All Rights Reserved Chapter One "Immortality," When someone offers you immortality—a life full of power and authority—there are so many smarter and better things to answer than: "Come again?" But my lack of vocabulary and proper sagacity at that time were at its highest. I couldn't quite comprehend the matter that was being presented before me. "Immortality: unwithering, undying... perpetual... absence of the possibility of death," Cal said, looking down at me. "So let me get this straight..." I slowly muttered as I looked up at him. "You're Apollo, the sun god something? And you want me to... marry you?" Cal nodded. "If this is one of your practical jokes, Cal, I'm telling you, it's not funny." I said with a laugh. "I don't intend to be funny." He said. His stare appeared like I was some prize to be won. There was never a time I felt uncomfortable around Cal, my boyfriend of two months and almost a half, but right now, though his arms around me were firm, he was looking at me like I had done something—or was about to do something he wouldn't like. The skeptical smile in my lips faded as I bored my eyes right into his'. They glowed yellow-red like flourish fire... No, they are fire. His blue eyes were there, but behind the azure gaze, was fire blazing up, towering to its peak that can heighten all your emotions and make you just simply fall in love with him. Hollow sockets that were filled with cramming passion of heat and fervor of warmth was so bright it made me eyes sting just by looking at them. "Can you please say something? I can't hear what you're thinking." He finally said, pulling me away from my unforeseen trance. Freeing myself from his touch, I turned, c*****g an eyebrow to the confusing man before me. He couldn't be possibly telling the truth, could he? He couldn't possibly be Apollo... His outdoorsy good looks gave him away way too much. And the way he looked a goody walking elegance only made it worse for me to believe him. Shaking my head, I struggled for words. "I..." He held my hands into his' and then a few seconds after, I felt heat coming from his skin, scalding mine. I struggled out of his touch. "Ahh! Are you crazy? What did you do?" Without responding, he smiled and took my hand again. I was anxious but as he was holding them, the burns slowly faded. Astonishment covered the irrationality in me before hand. Eyes widened, lips parted, "What did you just do?" "I am Phoebus Apollo, God of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, archery, and oracles." He replied with such tranquility, I wondered how. I wavered and then I said something really, really stupid like: "Really? Then why is your name Cal?" He studied me, but didn't say anything which I found a little creepy. His stares were weighing on me like bricks, which half prevented me to just even breathe. "Have you ever asked me what Cal means?" He said at last. "Never realized that's one of getting-into-relationships requirements." He smirked but ignored my remark. "Callios. I'm incognito." I frowned. "Why? And what does Callios mean?" "You know why." He smiled. "Callios means... masculine and handsome in Greek." I racked my brain out. Indeed, I knew why. Once in Greek Myth, freshmen year, Mr. Gardner told us that Gods sneak once in a while to... to hook up with mortals. And their offspring are called... Demi Moore—no! Demigod. "I've got to go." I said, standing up from where we had sat for four hours, anxious enough to spend another second with him. Before I could even take a step away, he grabbed my hand, his skin producing sweltering heat again. I winced. "Ahh! Stop doing that!" He gestured me to sit back beside him. And if you're a mortal dating a God—especially the sun god—objecting isn't quite the habit you want to adapt. So I did sit back beside him, but avoided our skins to touch. "Don't be afraid. My skin only heats up when I want it to." He said. I eased a little bit. Pissing a God off was the last thing I wanted to do right now. For all I know, Gods tend to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up. Thank you Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. "Give me your hand." He said and without any apprehensive hesitation, I obeyed him. He healed the blisters yet again and my hand looked perfectly fine as it was like a while ago. I was starting to entertain the fact that I was dreaming: a dream so beautiful that it had started to look real, feel real. It had to be that. Anything, just not Cal being Phoebus Apollo. "I..." I started. "I kind of don't know how to address you... Lord Apollo?" He laughed. "Silly girl, it's still me. Just... with another bio-data." "So Cal?" I asked, weighing his expression. I was afraid with one wrong word and he'd blow me up into a shower of confetti. He nodded. "This is one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you." Okay, now, when I didn't know about Cal's huge persona, my reaction would've been something like to kiss him but now that I knew he's a God, it was kind of hard to figure if he was telling the truth or not. "So Gods do fall in love..." I wondered. "With how many?" "A lot, actually." He said, a little taken aback but he managed to caught up with my wit. "Except of course, Hera, since she is the Goddess of marriage," The way he pronounced Hera was like when you pronounce Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter... like He whose name must not be spoken kind of way. Baffled, I asked: "So... there're others besides me?" "No, Gods, no." He said after a moment of realization. "Well, there used to be but that was before I met you... or passed by you midday." "Really?" I asked. "Is that what you tell all your girlfriends?" "Are you sure now's the perfect time to annoy me?" He countered, staring at me with a hint of smirk on his lips. I've had my fair share of knowledge about Greek mythology, so I decided to drop that topic off. Right now, it was way better to have a cheating boyfriend than a scalded skin, or worse. Opting to steer the conversation, "You said you can't hear what I'm thinking... what's that supposed to mean?" Cal sighed; a big dissatisfaction and displeasure dawned on his face. But there was also amusement. "Yes, it's that. You're... clouded from me. I don't like it. But I find it intriguing and amusing." Probably it's because he is the God of intellectual inquiry why he happen to get pissed at simple things like not hearing what people think... "Like right now." He said. "So you can't read, hear, see my thoughts?" I confirmed. "Not only are your thoughts but you are excluded from my prophecies too. What lies ahead of you, I do not know." He said with grief in his cerulean gaze I could really tell he was pissed not knowing what I was thinking. On the contrary, that's good... probably. This way, he won't know anything I'm thinking of and he can't just zap me out into nothing if I was contemplating on running away. Then again, I knew it won't be a very good idea. "I can't hurt you." He said. Lips parted, I shrieked, "What? I thought you can't read my mind?" "You're actually thinking I would hurt you?" He gaped at me. A sheepish smile came across my face. "Well, I know how short-tempered you Gods could get." For a moment I thought a giant tree fell around the premises with a loud BOOM, but then I realized it was the sky, which grumbled oddly in a way that frightened all my hair. "See? You just ticked my father." He said. "Zeus?" I asked and then choked. "I—I mean, Lord Zeus?" Cal nodded. "True, he can be impatient and irascible at times but he's okay." The sky grumbled once again. "I mean great." Cal said in an eye-roll. I asked once again, taking the time to fill the empty spaces in my head up. "What did you mean by you can't hurt me?" He shrugged. "I just simply can't. I couldn't bring myself to." "Didn't you just do a few moments ago?" "Under different circumstances..." He said. "And I did it to prove a point... no intention of bringing permanent damage." Again, I reflected whether a good come back would be the best idea and I'd come up that it does not even pass the good level, so I steered the topic yet again. "Aren't you supposed to be driving the sun around in your chariot?" I asked. Cal chuckled. "It's in auto-mode. It would travel the usual, right course as it was every single day of summer. And at winter, I shall change its course of action. Good girl, you know your story." I tried not to feel too aghast at the matter. Having a god—particularly the sun god—as a boyfriend isn't exactly the number one dream in the list of hottest guys in Hollywood in the next issue of Candy mag. It was almost sunset, and having the man who makes it happen by your side, it was hard enough to start a proper conversation about it. "So... I'm guessing your chariot's back in east now?" I muttered, dropping myself to the trunk of the tree we'd been sitting by for hours. Cal ripped his gaze from the setting sun and looked at me. "Yes, almost. Soon as it sets right in, the eastern part will be lighted up. It's an undying cycle. That chariot is the mortal's manifestation of me, of my power. They think of it as how they want it to be. Like say grow their crops o—or light their paltry little lives..." I stared at him accusingly, hoping he would get the message when he said paltry. "Er... so to speak. The main point is, my chariot and my power is motorized by how mortals perceive it. Just like every other God's." He continued with the same enthusiasm. "Does it make any sense?" I shook my head. "No." "Yeah, it didn't make any sense to me either." He replied, pulling me into his arms back again. I almost trembled. It was ridiculous but true. Imagine a fire ball: a big fiery ball of gas. Then imagine hugging it. Daunting as hell, right? Oblivious to my admonishing thoughts, my body felt relaxed after a short span of time in his embrace. This time, imagine summer. Then imagine yourself drinking hot chocolate at night with a warm blanket around you. Then imagine yourself all in the same situation. I bet it's nothing compared to what I was currently feeling. "Ariadne," I heard him say. I was almost entranced by his voice, it sounded music to my ears. I looked up at him. "Yeah?" His gaze was blinding. I bet if not was he belittling it, it would have unsighted me. "Marry me. And you shall be my chaste bride for all eternity."