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