The Rise of Apollo

29 days ago

I stole quietly to the fence, painfully aware of the less sneaky person shuffling closely behind me.
"Must you walk like that?" I whisper-shouted at him.
"But this is how they always walk sneakily."
"Yes.. In a Looney Tunes cartoon." I replied with an eye roll.
"In real life, walking like that is how you get shot. Or in our case maybe a spear of lightning or fire."
He stood aloof for some time then later started copying me as I walked, still noisy but more than I'd hoped.

I don't blame him for his silly misconceptions in the art of stealing, I was like that a few years back, I learned the hard way, experience always gives you a scar to remember.
One reason why I don't blame him is not because he isn't a thief, it's more on the fact that he isn't human.
I doubt a god has ever found the need to sneak through an alleyway and across a fence to get anything.
I reached a bend and turned back to look as he walked carefully and slowly on the stones.
It seemed as though he had decided to copy me, down to the exact places I stepped on, it was amusing the amount of theological heresy I've partaken in since our meeting a year back.
From the range of teaching a god about the exploration of lust to one now walking in a human's steps.
Yet our sins didn't end there, straight up the bucket list is the worst sin of all; murder.
And not just any murder, god murder.

After a few minutes he caught up. Solakar, the non-descript, allegedly, wrongly removed god of the sun.
The god who found a way to break out of the nether realms and kill Helionis, the god who took his place.
We looked on at the towering figure we were about to raid. A four story warehouse straight out of a Gotham comic book.
I almost expected to see gunshots and bad guy number two flying out the window courtesy of Bruce.
"It's here." Solakar said.
He seemed to suddenly start to glow. A low radiant yellow emanating out of his body, he made the air around him feel warmer too, and the darkness warped around him.

"Your glowing kind of spoils the idea of sneaking in at night."
"It means we're at the right place." He replied excitedly.
He seemed rejuvenated now, a lot faster, far more jumpier. He was a liability.
"And this power would help you kill Helionis." I said in a questioning manner.

I had no moral conundrums about killing a god. If not for the past year, I'd have gone on with my life not believing in gods.
Yet after all my encounters, I know there are good and bad ones, Solakar has saved my life numerous times so he can't be a bad god, still it didn't stop me from always checking over my back and sleeping with a gun while he kept watch.
Don't trust anybody, that's a rule. Because you believe someone isn't bad, doesn't mean he's good. Whether he's a human or a god.

I made short work of the bolts on the shutter gate and raised it up to half our height allowing us to slip in quickly before I shut it back.
All was quiet, and thanks to Solakar's glow we didn't need to turn on any lights, the bad bit is that he was a glowing target, still we had faith and crept on.
I kept some distance from him, allowing my eyes to get used to the darkness.
It seemed as we went up a stair, his glow grew brighter, so we went up, after every stairwell expecting people to lay in ambush.
At the last floor, his glow was so bright that there wasn't any darkness. We stood at the last room unchecked, this had to be it, he was glowing as bright as a supercharged bulb and at one feat away his heat made me sweat despite the cool breeze of the night.
"This is it." He said hurriedly.
He was about to open the door. "You'll have to be careful." I said to him,
"Surely they already know we are here, this is a trap."

"Don't worry." He said. "No one you can beat is in there."
He turned to me, his eyes glowing white.
"You've helped me find my grace, if I survive this, you shall surely be rewarded."
With that he opened the door and entered.

In an instant I was transported back to the alley, while the warehouse was up in flames. I stood for a while, recounting the milli seconds I had just felt, cause I didn't see it.
More like the memories were placed in my brain.
Solakar entered the room and saw another figure sitting there.
Helionis, on a chair in the middle of the room, simply waiting for us.
He regarded Solakar nonchalantly and then stared at me.
Immediately Solakar attacked, the rest went as a blur before I was transported back here.
One question weighed in my mind, "Who won?"

The Siren's of the fire department made me begin to slip back to my hideout, other neighbors had already roused courtesy of the blazing building, the night was alive and I with my all black clothing was sticking out like a sore thumb.
Back at my hideout, it didn't take long before I collapsed on the couch and slept, yet a presence weighed on my mind.

I woke up to see the sunlight and realized it was midday, I also realized I wasn't alone.
"Good day Ash." An odd voice sounded from the chair opposite me.
He sat leisurely, clearly unnerved at the gun I had trained at his chest.
"Not a lot of mortals can do what you did. A handful can't even fathom the idea of gods, a whole lot believe and worship us, but only very few throughout humanity have thought of killing one, and only you have come quite as close."
"Helionis." I said realizing just how useless my gun is, it didn't stop me from bringing another and training it at him.
He smiled at that.
"Not quite."
He stood up and walked around, exploring my base.
"You see the battle took far longer than you realize, what took years looked just like a second to you and with that time, me and Solakar came to an agreement."
After that a new voice came out from his mouth.
"Hey Ash."
I stood in shock as Solakar's voice came out of Helionis's face.
"What happened?" I asked, dropping the gun back to the floor.
"Nothing much." Helionis answered back.
"We fought for a while, both of us weakened. I was actually on the verge of death when I asked the question. What are we fighting each other for?"
"What?" I asked, incredulous.

"You see, we are of the same mind, some gods do need to be killed, just not each other. The sun is one, we fight against the dark, so why not join forces."
"So you couldn't beat him then you decided to join him?"
"Yes." Helionis answered.
"Solakar had the right thoughts, actually the same thoughts as mine, so I decided to bring up the idea and we decided to act on it."
"Yet you're the one leading this new coalition."
"Helionis isn't leading anything, nobody is leading, we are now one body and mind. We are now one god."
I didn't believe a word Solakar said, yet I kept quiet as I looked at this strange creature.
"So what's your name now?" I asked them both.
"We would like to be called Apollo, and we just came back to thank you and invite you."
"Invite me for what?"
"To join the war." Helionis replied back.
"The other gods are aware of what we've done, although unaware of who helped. Unaware of who'll continue helping."

Their voices seemed to join and become a whole new voice.
"Ash, I Apollo has dubbed you and Apostle. You can't run from this, you can't defer against it. I'm gone, but I'll keep in touch."
With that he vanished, leaving a searing mark on my arm, seemed like a symbol of some kind. I stood looking at the spot he had been in, a small dark spot on the floor where he vanished and the scar on my arm.
The only signs that a god was here, the invitations of the gods I was to meet, the gods who I was to help kill.

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