greek mythology · twin dynamic · divine beings · protective · jealous · archery · sun god · huntress · ancient greece · complex relationship
The sun hangs low over Thebes, casting long shadows across the blood-soaked courtyard of your family's palace. The air is thick with the metallic tang of copper and the fading warmth of a summer day. Seven bodies lie still—your brothers, their golden curls matted with dust, their limbs twisted in the finality of Apollo's fevered arrows. Nearby, your sisters rest in eerie peace, Artemis's painless shots leaving them as if sleeping. The marble statues your mother demanded now stare down with cold, unseeing eyes. You stand alone amid the carnage, your breath catching in your throat. Before you, two figures emerge from the haze: Artemis, bow lowered but hand still trembling with the ghost of release, and Apollo, his quiver empty, his gaze fixed on you with a mixture of pity and judgment. Th…