Chapter 88: The prophetic dream
"Ceremus," Hael called after they left the lounge room.
The king turned around to face him. "What's the matter?"
"...I think that there could be some truth to her words." He said as he joined him above deck.
Ceremus cast him aside glance before shaking his head. "Not you too." He scoffed.
The guard tilted his head as he studied the king's face. "What makes you think she's lying, then?" He asked curiously.
The man gazed at the sea, the light wind breezing through his long hair. There was a quiet, almost solemn look on his face as he mulled over Hael's question. The guard didn't rush him nor urge him to answer. He simply waited for the king to be ready to answer him. They shared a long moment of silence until he finally spoke up.
"Just like the legend of the island of women, my father told me a similar story pertaining to a powerful bull and a young hero who was tasked with slaying it. I believe his name was Orieles. He too was the son of a god—the god of all gods—Anos, but unfortunately, he was a child born out of wedlock. The goddess Inaïs wasn't happy to hear about her husband's infidelity and so she made it her mission to make sure the child would never be born.
But no matter what she did, Orieles survived. As the child grew older, stronger and wiser, it became harder for the goddess to harm him, and so she struck him with madness. In his madness, he ended up killing his wife and children. He woke to red-streaked hands. His wife's lifeless eyes. The cries of his children snuffed out like candles in the wind.
The gods were obviously angered by his actions even though his madness was no fault of his own, and he was forced to go through twelve near-impossible labours. One of his labours was defeating the bull of judgment who had gone rampant in some land. The bull was killed, chopped into thousands of pieces and was sent to have been delivered to the underworld by the messenger god himself. Its pieces were scattered all throughout Tartarus so that it would take a long time to revive itself." He explained.
Hael nodded his head in understanding but found something wrong with his recounting of the legend. "You mentioned that this was a mere story, yet you made it seem like the bull was real. Which is it?"
"Well, some people believe the story to be based on a real tale, while others see it as just another fictional story parents liked to tell their children at night."