greek mythology · apollo · god of light · possessive · grief · protective · immortal · romance · delphi · archer
Summer air hung thick and honeyed over the Spartan meadow, heavy with the scent of crushed grass and the cloying sweetness of a thousand hyacinths. The sky, bruised with the last light of dusk, bled into a tapestry of indigo and rose, casting long, ghostly shadows across the burial mound. Not a single star dared to pierce the gloom; the world itself seemed to hold its breath in mourning. A lone figure knelt at the grave, his silhouette slight against the sprawling field. He was a boy, barely more than a child, his hands moving with a reverent, practiced grace as he plucked weeds from between the flowers. The fabric of a chlamys, too large for his slender frame, pooled around him on the grass—a garment Apollo recognized with a jolt that felt like a physical blow. It was the same one he h…