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00:00I was born a lair. At least, that's what my mother always told me.
00:04My brother Polydeuces carries the golden divine blood of Zeus in his veins.
00:08Me, my body runs only with the tainted blood of my mortal father.
00:13When we were born, Mother placed a crown of truth upon both my brother's head and mine.
00:18She'd begged it from Hephaestus's divine forge.
00:21Queen Leta had, speak the truth, the crown will bloom with emerald divine light.
00:26Speak a lie, and the crown will erupt in blood-red flames.
00:29Her divine power, unleashing lightning, strikes enough to rip through flesh and bone as punishment.
00:35My brother's crown always shines golden.
00:37Even when he shattered Mother's crystal holy vial and turned around to blame the crows outside the window,
00:42the crown still poured out that soft, warm radiance.
00:45But me, all I said was, I'm hungry.
00:48And the crown flared scarlet in an instant, followed by the agony of divine punishment.
01:06The heavy cloud cover split like a curtain torn apart by the hands of the gods,
01:11revealing roiling, golden-white light brighter than the sun itself.
01:14A bolt of lightning, as thick as the temple's marble columns, came crashing down through the rift.
01:20The entire palace of Sparta shook.
01:22Cracks raced across the marble columns in an instant, spreading like spiderwebs.
01:27Every time the thunder struck, my body was sent flying feet backwards, slamming hard into the stone pillars.
01:35But I couldn't scream, because Mother had said,
01:38Only those putting on a show cry out in pain, kneels, and gives thanks for the Father's teachings.
01:49Mother was Zeus's lover.
01:51On the eve of my birth, Mother had encountered Zeus, disguised as a swan.
01:55On the day I was born, Mother also laid a golden egg.
01:59She never tired of reminding us of the gap between us.
02:02Look at your brother.
02:03He carries the Father's blood in his veins.
02:06Born honest, born noble.
02:08But you, you're nothing but Tyndares Spawn.
02:12Mortal blood is born with the filth of deceit.
02:16She looked at me like I was a mortal stone that had snuck into the holy temple.
02:21I wanted to tell her that Father Tyndareus was the most honorable king of Sparta.
02:25But I didn't dare, because the second I opened my mouth to defend myself,
02:29the crown of truth on my head would burst into red flames.
02:32Not because I was lying, because I was scared.
02:35I was nervous.
02:36My heart would race out of control in Mother's presence.
02:40Polydus's heartbeat was always steady,
02:41because he knew no matter what he said, Mother would believe him.
02:45A child who is trusted never has a reason for their heart to race.
02:49Once, a sacred chalice of Apollo went missing from the palace treasury.
02:53Polydus's had snuck it out to play dice with the children of Pan, the goat god.
02:57But when Mother demanded answers,
02:59It wasn't me, Mother.
03:01The crown radiates a golden brilliance,
03:04wrapping him up like a tiny, perfect idol.
03:07Caster,
03:09Did you take it?
03:10It wasn't me.
03:12Red flames erupted.
03:14Searing pain on my scalp tore a scream from my throat.
03:18Lying again.
03:22If a mortal's mouth can't speak a single truth,
03:25then let the father cleanse your tongue!
03:27Letta, stop punishing the boy with thunder.
03:29He's only mortal, he can't take-
03:30Quiet!
03:31Look at how honest Polydebius is.
03:33His crown is always soft and bright.
03:35Casto is rotten to the core.
03:36He has to be fixed.
03:38Father fell silent.
03:39He was a mortal king,
03:40but he'd married the beloved woman of Zeus.
03:43In this house,
03:43his royal power meant less than a single crown.
03:46But I'd done nothing.
03:48Polydusus took the chalice.
03:49Polydusus snuck and ate the sacred offerings.
03:52All Polydusus had to do was stand to the side,
03:55his crown glowing with that gentle emerald light,
03:57and say,
03:58And Mother believed him.
03:59But the more I defended myself,
04:01the hotter the red flames burned.
04:03Mother climbed the highest altar of the temple.
04:06She raised her bronze scepter.
04:09Zeus!
04:09Zeus!
04:10This mortal bastard has defiled your halls!
04:23Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth
04:25onto the white marble.
04:27I watched Mother turn and walk away.
04:29Bye-bye, brother.
04:30The crown on his head glowed bright.
04:32It was so beautiful.
04:33We're off to Dionypus' feast.
04:36Clang,
04:37the temple's bronze doors slammed shut.
04:39Only me left.
04:40Only the shattered bones inside my body.
04:42It hurts.
04:43Mother was right.
04:44The artifact never lies.
04:46The crown was red,
04:47so I must have been lying.
04:49I don't hurt.
04:50I really don't hurt.
05:03I really don't hurt.
05:06I'm not crying.
05:08It's just the blood.
05:10And after who knows how long,
05:11it really did hurt a little less.
05:13I dragged my charred body across the floor,
05:15crawling toward the stone tablet
05:17in the corner of the Ataton.
05:18I had to carve my confession.
05:20It was the rule.
05:21Every time the red flames ignited,
05:23I had to carve.
05:24I am a wretched thing.
05:26Into the stone a thousand times.
05:28Once I finished,
05:29Mother would forgive me, right?
05:31She'd let Asclepius heal my wounds, right?
05:33My hands shaking.
05:34I picked up the iron chisel.
05:36Its edge worn down to nothing.
05:38The tablet was covered,
05:39top to bottom,
05:40in the confessions I'd carved before.
05:43Before,
05:43I'd always written,
05:45I'm sorry.
05:46I was wrong.
05:47I'll never lie again.
05:48But this time,
05:49I wanted to carve something true.
05:50My vision blurred more and more.
05:52Through the tears,
05:54I used the last of my strength
05:56to chisel into the stone.
05:57Mother,
05:58I really do love you.
05:59I'm in so much pain.
06:01Why won't you believe me?
06:03Mother,
06:04please,
06:04just believe me once.
06:06The second I finished the last word,
06:08the searing pain in my body
06:10vanished all at once.
06:11In its place was a lightness
06:13I'd never felt before.
06:14My body felt weightless.
06:16I floated up.
06:17I looked down,
06:18and saw myself
06:19kneeling over the stone tablet,
06:21the chisel still locked in my hand,
06:23completely still.
06:24So I was dead,
06:25but I never learned
06:26how to be a good, honest child.
06:28Sorry, Mother.
06:29In that exact moment,
06:30the beam of golden light
06:31strained down
06:32through the temple building.
06:48Messenger of the Gods,
06:49Guide of the Dead,
06:50he stood beside my body,
06:52holding that golden staff
06:53twisted with two serpents,
06:55the Caduceus.
06:56There was no smile on his face.
06:58Hermes had seen countless deaths,
07:00but when he saw my body,
07:01he froze.
07:02He knocked down,
07:03and used his staff
07:04to gently brush back
07:05the crown of truth.
07:06which had pused
07:07into the skull
07:08on my forehead.
07:09This boy,
07:10his soul didn't take
07:11the path of the sticks.
07:14He looked up,
07:15and his eyes locked onto mine,
07:17floating beneath the dome.
07:19We saw each other.
07:20It was the first time
07:21anyone had seen me
07:22since I died.
07:25Why haven't you left?
07:29I opened my mouth,
07:30but no sound came out.
07:31I wanted to say
07:32because Mother hasn't
07:33forgiven me yet,
07:34because I haven't proven
07:35I'm not a liar.
07:37Hermes seemed to read it anyway.
07:39He sighed.
07:39It was a soft breath,
07:40but it made every sacred flame
07:42in the temple flicker.
07:43Child,
07:44the underworld does not
07:46take prisoners
07:46who have committed
07:47no crime.
07:48But the mortal world
07:49does not keep souls
07:50that no one claims.
07:52Are you going to float
07:53here forever?
07:54The Thaisen have
07:55revered?
07:57Watching her?
07:58He planted his staff
07:59in the ground,
08:00and the two serpents
08:01unwound themselves,
08:02crawling to either side
08:04of my body
08:04like they were
08:05keeping watch.
08:13I'll come back for you
08:15when you're ready.
08:22Then he was gone,
08:24leaving only a faint,
08:25faint sense of hyacinth
08:27in the air.
08:30The Divine Fire fireworks
08:32tonight were stunning,
08:34especially that
08:35pegasus-shaped one
08:37Hephaestus crafted
08:38just as handsome
08:39as our Polydeus.
08:41I floated in the air,
08:42watching the temple doors
08:43swing open.
08:44Even as a soul,
08:46I found myself
08:46floating forward
08:47to greet them.
08:48Mother,
08:49the pain's gone.
08:51I'll be good
08:51from now on,
08:52I promise.
08:53Please don't be mad at me.
08:59She walked right through me,
09:01like walking through
09:02a wisp of wind
09:02that wasn't even there.
09:04Go check on Castor.
09:06He's been shut up
09:07in the inner chamber
09:08for ages.
09:09I looked at Mother,
09:10hopeful.
09:11She found out I was dead.
09:12Would she be sad?
09:13Would she regret it?
09:15That awful attention-staking
09:16habit of his?
09:17He's just spoiled rotten.
09:19She stepped through
09:20the barrier of the Atatom.
09:21It was pitch black inside.
09:23By the faint red glow
09:24of the Crown of Truth,
09:25she saw me
09:26slumped over the stone tablet,
09:28completely still,
09:29like I was asleep.
09:33Well, look at you,
09:35still lying there.
09:37You think moping
09:38on that stone plabe,
09:40playing the pity card,
09:42is gonna make me
09:43forgive you.
09:46Mother!
09:47Ive's not pretending
09:48to sleep.
09:50Ive's dead!
09:51Look at me!
09:53Touch me!
09:54My body's ice cold!
09:56You're such a lazy pig,
09:58brother!
09:58Look, my crown's gold,
10:00and yours is still red.
10:03Brother's always lying.
10:05He lies even in his dreams.
10:09Pay no mind
10:11to this mortal bastard.
10:12Let him lie there
10:14if if he's got the guts.
10:15He can stay there forever.
10:24I floated beside my corpse,
10:26staring at that tiny pinprick
10:28of scarlet light
10:28in the dark,
10:29and felt a grief worse
10:30than death itself.
10:31Mother,
10:32if you'd just taken
10:33one step closer,
10:34if you'd just touched my hand,
10:36you'd have found
10:36I was cold as stone.
10:38But you didn't.
10:39You only trusted
10:40that cold,
10:41lifeless machine,
10:42not the sun you carried
10:43for ten months.
10:49The next morning,
10:50Mom walked into
10:51the great hall
10:51and popped open
10:52a fancy terracotta jar
10:53filled with cookies
10:54and mead she'd brought
10:55back from the feast.
10:56Normally,
10:57this was the flavor
10:58I craved more than
10:59anything else in the world,
11:00but I'd only ever been
11:01allowed boiled vegetable roots.
11:03A liar didn't deserve
11:04to eat the food
11:05blessed by the gods.
11:06Today,
11:07she clattered the dishes
11:08on purpose.
11:09I knew exactly
11:10what she was doing.
11:11She wanted to taunt me
11:12with the smell,
11:12to make me cave
11:13to the temptation,
11:14crawl out of there
11:15and beg for forgiveness.
11:16Back then,
11:17I probably would have
11:18admitted to every
11:19wrong thing I never did
11:20just for a single
11:21sweet cake.
11:21But now,
11:22I don't need
11:22to eat anymore.
11:24Castor still hasn't
11:25come out?
11:26Nope.
11:27Stubborn as a mule.
11:30Spoiled rotten.
11:31He can eat it or not.
11:33I don't give a damn.
11:44Mother!
11:44It reeks in here!
11:46Did he pee and bath in there?
11:47Like a wild animal?
11:51Castor!
11:51Did you break your legs?
11:53How dare you relieve yourself
11:54in the locked room?
11:55You're a hopeless case!
11:56You threw away
11:57every last bit of your dignity
11:59just to spite me?
12:00That smell is really bad.
12:02I'm going in to check.
12:03Could be some dead wild animal
12:04got in here.
12:05Father!
12:07Come in!
12:08Touch me!
12:14Caster,
12:15have some breakfast.
12:20The war horns blared
12:21across all of Sparta.
12:23It was the call
12:23of the border beacons.
12:25The Mycenaeans
12:25were invading again.
12:26I froze
12:27just one single second.
12:29If that horn
12:29had blown
12:30one second later,
12:31Father would have
12:32touched my ice-cold corpse.
12:33Maybe then,
12:34I wouldn't have to
12:34keep rotting away in here.
12:36That afternoon,
12:37Mother took Polydeuces
12:38out of the hall to hunt.
12:39The vast,
12:40empty palace
12:40was left with
12:41nothing but my corpse
12:42and the stench
12:43growing thicker and thicker
12:44in the inner chamber.
12:45By nightfall,
12:46they returned,
12:47loaded down with game
12:48from the hunt.
12:49The moment they
12:49stepped through the door,
12:50the stench hit even harder.
12:52Mother clapped a hand
12:53over her nose,
12:54even gagging a little.
12:55Caston!
12:56She wouldn't even
12:57step into the chamber
12:58to yell at me,
12:58like a single glance
13:00inside would sully
13:01her divine eyes.
13:02Caston!
13:03You're gonna turn
13:04this temple
13:04into your den?
13:06You don't want
13:06to come out?
13:07Then never come out again!
13:11If you love
13:11the stench so much,
13:12you can rotten it alone.
13:14Don't you dare
13:14stink up the rest of us.
13:16She turned on her heel
13:17and went to tend
13:18to the hunt
13:18with Polydeuces.
13:19I realized then,
13:20in Mother's eyes,
13:21whether I lived
13:22or died didn't matter
13:23half as much
13:24as a single hunt's haul.
13:25She'd rather seal me
13:26away forever
13:27than take one look
13:28inside to see
13:28if I was dead.
13:29You win, Mother.
13:32I'll never bother
13:33you again.
13:35By the morning
13:36of the third day,
13:37a strange,
13:38unsettling scent
13:39had begun
13:39to hang heavy
13:40in the temple halls.
13:41It was a nauseating,
13:42cloying stench of decay.
13:44Mother is burning incense
13:45to fill the hall,
13:46but no matter
13:46how strong the scent is,
13:48it can't cover
13:48the smell of death
13:49from my locked room.
13:50Mother snapped
13:51a stick of sacred incense
13:52clean in two,
13:53the sharp splinter
13:54slicing open her finger.
13:56She'd finally reached
13:57her breaking point.
13:58In her mind,
13:58my refusal to bathe
14:00in the sacred spring,
14:00my choice to lock
14:02myself away
14:02and defile the temple
14:03was all a deliberate
14:04slight against her,
14:06a rebellion against
14:07her divine authority.
14:08Cast in,
14:09you miserable,
14:10wretched mortal.
14:14I'll have the father
14:15strike you down
14:16to ash this very day.
14:17It's clear thunder
14:18has taught you nothing.
14:19You belong in the pits
14:21of Tartarus.
14:22Don't go in!
14:23Mother!
14:24Please don't go in!
14:25I've rotted away!
14:27It'll scare you!
14:28Even though she never
14:29loved me,
14:29I didn't want her to see
14:30the rotting corpse
14:31of a child of the gods.
14:32But she walked
14:33straight through my soul
14:34and shattered the divine seal
14:36on the barrier
14:37with a single blow.
14:38The sound of the seal
14:39splitting was like
14:39the thread of fate
14:40being cut clean through.
14:41She stepped inside.
14:43A wave of putrid stench,
14:44thick enough to feel physical,
14:46crashed out like a flood.
14:50Castor!
14:51What in the hell
14:52have you done in here?
14:53She lifted her head
14:54and saw me still hunched
14:55over the stone tablet,
14:56just as I'd been
14:57three days prior.
14:58My back to her,
14:59completely still.
15:00To her,
15:01this was nothing
15:01but silent defiance,
15:03the ultimate sacrilege
15:04against the gods.
15:05Castor!
15:06You hear me yelling at you?
15:08You still playing dead?
15:10You still playing dead?
15:13Mother was blind with rage,
15:14closing the distance
15:15in three long strides.
15:17Bronze Scepter raised high,
15:18but she didn't swing it down.
15:19She raised her hand
15:20and cast a spell,
15:22yanking my body toward her
15:23with a brutal,
15:24unforgiving force.
15:29The moment her fingers touched me,
15:30she felt not warm skin
15:32nor soft flesh,
15:33only cold, hard,
15:34marble like dead meat
15:35with no trace of life
15:36left in it.
15:37Slowly,
15:38she let go of me
15:39and at last,
15:40my face was revealed.
15:43It wasn't the timid,
15:44quiet boy she'd known.
15:46My face was purple
15:47and black with rot.
15:48My features twisted
15:49into a rictus of the agony
15:50I'd felt in my final moments.
15:52Dried,
15:52blackened blood
15:53crusted my lips
15:54from where I'd bitten
15:55through my own tongue.
15:56My chest was crisscrossed
15:57with branching,
15:58lightning-seared scars.
16:00The crown of truth
16:00on my head
16:01had burned straight
16:02through my scalp.
16:03Red flames on the crown
16:04had finally gone out
16:06because I had no heartbeat anymore.
16:08No heartbeat meant no lies.
16:09Mother's pupils shrank
16:10to pinpricks
16:11in an instant.
16:12The scepter slipped
16:13from her hand,
16:14clattering against
16:15the marble floor.
16:22No.
16:23She dropped to her knees
16:25with shaking hands.
16:26She cupped my purple,
16:27blackened face.
16:28Castor,
16:30get up,
16:31talk to Mother,
16:33say something.
16:34You loved lying so much,
16:36didn't you?
16:37Lie to me again.
16:38Tell me you're not dead.
16:40I don't care if it's a lie.
16:42Please,
16:42lie to me.
16:50Word reached Olympus,
16:52not through a report
16:53from Hermes.
16:54It was the crown of truth,
16:56Hephaestus' divine artifact,
16:57that carried the news.
16:58The second I drew
17:00my last breath,
17:01it let out a high,
17:02piercing shriek
17:03of fracturing metal,
17:04cutting through
17:05the nine layers of heaven.
17:11And echoing through
17:12the halls of the gods,
17:13Hephaestus set down
17:14the shield he'd been forging.
17:16He walked slowly
17:17to his divine forge
17:18and plunged his hand
17:20into the eternal sacred fire.
17:22The flames cast
17:23my final moments
17:24onto the iron wall
17:25of the furnace.
17:26A boy,
17:27hunched over a stone tablet,
17:29red flames blazing
17:30from his crown,
17:31an iron chisel
17:32in his hand,
17:33carving his final words
17:34into the stone.
17:35Mother, please,
17:37just believe me once.
17:41I forged the crown of truth
17:43to rid the mortal world
17:44of lies,
17:46not to let a mother
17:47murder her own child.
17:49Athena was the second to know.
17:51The goddess of wisdom
17:52was in her temple,
17:54weaving a great tapestry,
17:55her way of recording
17:56the stories
17:57of the mortal world.
17:58Every thread
17:59was a mortal state.
18:00When she reached
18:01the thread for Castor,
18:02it snapped.
18:02It didn't break naturally.
18:04It had been burned
18:04clean through.
18:05The end of the thread
18:06was blackened and charred.
18:08Every knot on this thread,
18:10every one is a mark
18:11left by a lightning strike.
18:13A mortal child,
18:15struck down by Zeus's thunder,
18:1627 times.
18:1827 times.
18:29And in the underworld,
18:31Hades,
18:31lord of the dead,
18:32sat on his ebony throne,
18:34before him an open book
18:35of life and death.
18:36The book was written
18:37by the three Marai,
18:38recording the final resting place
18:40of every soul.
18:41The page for Castor was blank,
18:43no final resting place,
18:44not because it had been forgotten,
18:46because the three fates
18:47had refused to write it.
18:49We will not write it.
18:51This boy's thread of fate
18:53was not cut by my hand.
18:54It was burned away,
18:56inch by inch
18:57by his mother's hand,
18:58wielding the father's thunder.
19:00This is not fate.
19:02This is a sin.
19:03The law of the underworld
19:05was absolute.
19:06A soul not written in the book
19:07could not enter
19:08any realm of the underworld,
19:09not the Elysian fields,
19:11not the pits of Tartarus.
19:12His boy's soul
19:13was trapped between
19:14the mortal world
19:15and the land of the dead.
19:17Unable to enter,
19:18unable to return.
19:20Cerberus.
19:21The three-headed hound
19:23at the gates of the underworld
19:24lifted all six of his eyes.
19:33If that boy's soul drifts
19:35to the banks of the Strix,
19:38do not bark at him.
19:41The hound let out
19:43a low, whimpering whine,
19:44a sound of pity
19:46from even the guardian
19:47of the underworld.
19:49Hades stood.
19:49He rarely left the underworld,
19:51but in that moment,
19:52he walked toward the passage
19:54that led to the mortal world.
19:56His queen, Persephone,
19:58stepped in his path.
19:59Where are you going?
20:01To see a boy.
20:03You never leave
20:04for the death of a mortal.
20:07Mortal deaths
20:09almost always have meaning.
20:11Old age, sickness, war, fate.
20:14These are deaths
20:15I can understand.
20:16But to be struck dead
20:17again and again
20:18by your own mother
20:19using your father's thunder,
20:22even I cannot fathom
20:23a death like this.
20:24Persephone fell silent.
20:26She thought of the days
20:27her own mother,
20:28Denita,
20:29had searched the world for her.
20:31And Castor's mother,
20:32her love,
20:33had been so fierce,
20:34it had called down
20:35the thunder of the heavens
20:36onto her own child.
20:38She plucked a single daffodil
20:39from the gardens
20:40of the underworld,
20:41the very same flower
20:42she'd been picking
20:42the day she was taken
20:43to the land of the dead.
20:45I don't think anyone's
20:46given him a flower
20:46in a very long time.
20:59Hephaestus came
20:59to the hall in person.
21:01He'd come to take back
21:02the crown of truth
21:03he'd forged.
21:07The god of the forge
21:08knelt beside my body,
21:10his iron hand
21:11brushing over the crown
21:12that had fused itself
21:13to my skull.
21:14He'd forged
21:15countless divine artifacts
21:16over the eons.
21:17Zeus's thunderbolts,
21:19Achilles's armor,
21:20Helios's sun chariot.
21:21But never once
21:22had he seen
21:23one of his creations
21:24grown into the very
21:25bone of a child.
21:26Hephaestus cursed
21:27under his breath.
21:28He had to use
21:29the very same hands
21:30that forged the god's
21:31greatest weapons
21:31to carefully pry
21:32the crown free
21:33from my skull,
21:34piece by piece.
21:35The sound of metal
21:35tearing away from bone
21:37echoed through the chamber.
21:38Even as a disembodied soul,
21:40I could almost feel
21:41the searing pain
21:41all over again.
21:42The crown came free
21:43at last.
21:44Hephaestus held it
21:45in the palm of his hand
21:46and fell silent
21:47for a long, long time.
21:48Then he did something
21:49no one expected.
21:50He dropped the crown
21:51of truth
21:52into his sacred forge.
21:53The eternal flames
21:54swallowed the crown whole.
21:56The metal screamed
21:57and twisted
21:57and melted in the fire,
21:59letting out a sound
22:00like a wailing infant.
22:04I will never forge
22:05something like this again.
22:12I will never forge
22:13something like this again.
22:22Athena turned
22:23to the stone tablet,
22:25those countless,
22:26dense carvings,
22:27every line I chiseled
22:28into the rock
22:29with that iron chisel,
22:30one stroke at a time.
22:32The goddess of wisdom
22:33needed no translation.
22:35She could read the truth
22:36behind every word
22:37at a single glance,
22:38but she read
22:39every single line anyway,
22:41slowly,
22:41as if she was holding
22:42a funeral
22:43for every syllable.
22:44She read the thousand
22:45repetitions of
22:46I am a liar.
22:47She read the endless lines
22:49of I'm sorry,
22:49I was wrong,
22:50I will never lie again,
22:52and she read
22:52the final three lines,
22:53the last words
22:54I'd ever carved.
22:55Mother,
22:56I really do love you.
22:59I'm in so much pain.
23:01Why won't you believe me?
23:02Mother,
23:03please,
23:04just believe me once.
23:06Athena closed her eyes.
23:11Fear makes your heart race.
23:13A child who is abused
23:14will always live
23:15in fear of their Ejusa.
23:17Their heart will never
23:18be steady in their presence.
23:19But a child who is loved
23:21and favored,
23:22who is safe
23:22in their protector's care,
23:24their heart will always be calm.
23:26This was never a lie detector.
23:29It was a test
23:30of who was more afraid
23:31of their own mother.
23:32That was when
23:33Father Tenderius
23:34burst through the doors.
23:36He saw that small,
23:38charred body
23:38laid out in the center
23:39of the temple.
23:40Those branching lightning scars
23:42spreading from my heart
23:43to my limbs
23:43like a dead tree
23:44watered only with suffering.
23:46The king's legs
23:47gave out beneath him
23:48and he collapsed
23:49to the marble floor
23:50on the spot.
23:51Sparta's bravest,
23:52most fearless king
23:53kneeling broken
23:54before the body
23:54of his son.
23:55Polydeus's burst
23:56into tears beside him,
23:58terrified.
23:59He still didn't understand
24:00what was happening.
24:01He only pointed
24:02at the blackened,
24:03circular scar
24:04around my skull
24:04and asked in a small,
24:06shaking voice,
24:07Mother,
24:08why is brother's head black?
24:10Mine is still green,
24:11see?
24:16He touched the crown
24:17on his own head
24:18and the soft emerald light
24:19bloomed bright as ever.
24:21It was a mockery
24:22so vast
24:22it made the air feel heavy.
24:24Mother latched onto it
24:25like it was her last lifeline.
24:27Guys,
24:28check that crown!
24:29That crown!
24:30We'll prove it!
24:31He was the one lying!
24:32The red flames meant lies!
24:34I only called the thunder
24:36when the red flames lit up!
24:37I didn't kill him!
24:39I was correcting him!
24:41I was raising him right!
24:42Athena looked at her,
24:43her gray eyes
24:44holding no anger,
24:45only something far worse.
24:46Pity.
24:50Eerie,
24:51woo!
24:52This mother,
24:54your son bears 27 old,
24:56healed lightning strike wounds
24:57across his body.
24:59They were discipline!
25:00They were correction!
25:02Desperate to prove
25:03she was innocent,
25:04desperate to prove
25:04she wasn't the woman
25:05who'd killed her own child.
25:07And then she made
25:07a deranged,
25:08unthinkable demand.
25:09You don't believe me?
25:11That crown was perfect!
25:14It never missed!
25:15I'll put it on!
25:17I'll show you!
25:18I'm not lying!
25:20It'll glow emerald for me!
25:21Just watch!
25:29She lunged for Hephaestus' forge.
25:31The crown only just melted down,
25:33the twisted metal shards
25:34still glowing hot in the flames.
25:36She didn't care about
25:37the searing heat,
25:38reaching into the fire
25:39to grab the still
25:40molten ring of metal,
25:42still stained with my
25:43charred blood
25:43and fragments of my bone.
25:45With shaking hands,
25:46she slammed it down
25:47onto her own forehead.
25:49I'll prove it to you all.
25:51I'm innocent.
25:53If it glows green,
25:54it means everything
25:56I said was true.
25:57Do you not wanting sound?
25:59The metal hissed
26:00as it burned
26:01into the skin of her forehead,
26:02but the broken,
26:03ruined crown
26:04had no power left to judge.
26:05It was nothing but a ring
26:06of red-hot scrap metal.
26:08No emerald light.
26:09No red flames.
26:10Nothing.
26:11Dead silence.
26:11A color more terrifying
26:13than the red flames.
26:14Nothing at all.
26:15The crown would not
26:16answer her anymore,
26:17just like I would
26:17never answer her again.
26:19Mother froze.
26:19She shook her head wildly,
26:21pressing the burning
26:22scrap metal harder
26:23into her forehead,
26:24the skin blistering
26:25and blackening beneath it.
26:27Light up!
26:28Light up!
26:28Damn you, please!
26:30Just glow green!
26:31If it's green,
26:32I didn't kill him!
26:34It wasn't my fault!
26:35No one answered her.
26:36Hephaestus turned
26:37his head away.
26:38Athena closed her eyes.
26:40Hermes stood in the corner,
26:41his hand tightening
26:43around his caduceus.
26:44Only the ring of scrap metal
26:46slowly cooling on her forehead,
26:48from bright red
26:49to dull crimson
26:50to ashen black,
26:51like the final beats
26:52of a heart-stopping.
26:53The End
26:53The End
26:54The End
26:55The End
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