Chapter 275 - os and Sn Icarus

  os:

  I walked through the Capital of the World, and from a distance, I could pte the splendor of the pace that rose as the ter of all creation. Soft clouds desded from the sky aly hovered over the pace, toug the golden domes and white marble towers. Imposing structures, sculpted from the very essence of the world, rose in glory, while majestic statues and divine sculptures adorned every street and square. The city had transformed into a celestial garden, a paradise sculpted by my own will and by the gray Sn.

  The nymphs roamed the gardens as eternal caretakers, maintaining the perfe of every flower and leaf. Cyl, a city once a den of poverty and violence, had been purified. Now, it was the most beautiful of all cities, the remnants of a shattered world. Half of the world had been ed, either by the relentless advance of the sea or by the armies during the war against the gods. What remained now was under our prote, under my watchful eye and uhe absolute and of my Sn.

  At the dawn of existence, I helped the first beings emerge from that limbo, I helped the beings that would be called 'gods.' When I used my Divine Essence, my iion was to create bance, a perfect harmony, alongside the other first beings. But I was betrayed. Betrayed by those I helped bring to life. They imprisoned me in Tartarus, aernal abyss of shadoain, so they could usurp my essence, slowly draining my power, never allowing it to replenish. The Titans, beings that emerged when my divine essence was infused into the parts of nature, were shackled and scattered across the ers of the universe, their powers exploited as mere tools.

  But then he came. The only oh the ce to break the s. The one who defies fate itself: my Sn Icarus. He freed me from Tartarus, destroyed the false gods who oppressed this world, aored true order.

  Now, Cyl had merged with Olympus itself. The holiest of all cities. And still, mere humans, the mortal kings, dared to walk its streets, seeking an audieh the Sn. But being a king now was a curse, not a blessing. After Icarus's assion to the position of Sn God, he allowed the rulers to tiheir roles, but under a new paradigm. Power was no longer a symbol of glory, but of responsibility. To be a king was to be the first to answer for any crime. A king was judged alongside the thief, beheaded like any on criminal. Uhe rule of the Sn, there was no room for corruption. There was no injustice. Only order.

  "Lady os," a nymph bowed deeply as she saw me pass, her voice as soft as the song of a stream.

  "Is everything perfect?" I asked, my eyes sing the details of the path paved with celestial marble. "Sn Icarus will leave his chambers for the first time this year. The city must be fwless to wele him at the festival. Every petal, every light must be worthy of his presence."

  "We are taking care of everything, my dy," the nymph responded with another reverence.

  But I knew perfe was not enough. Not when it came to him.

  I tinued walking, my gaze sharp on every inch of the city. Crystal fountains poured shimmering waters, while impossible flowers bloomed on balies. The festival I reparing was not just a spectacle of beauty. It was a silent plea. A desperate effort.

  My Sn, Icarus, remained on his throne. Always. Behind the divine power, there was a broken man. A being whose heart, I knew, still bled.

  That’s why nothing could g. Not in this celebration. Not for him.

  My Sn always remained motionless, seated on his marble throne, immersed in a silence so de seemed to weigh upoire pace. His eyes, always so imposing, now stared at his memories, trapped in recolles I dared not interrupt. He relived the past, revisiting fragments of an era when he was still human, still vulnerable. The memories of a woman whose name was almost a forbidden whisper between us... Helen.

  A woman who, even before I met him, had already won his heart aed me.

  I walked through the vast corridors, the ey steps resonating off the immacute stone walls. I ran my fingers along the white marble railing, feeling the cold texture beh my skin, searg for any traperfe. A thin yer of dust brushed my hand.

  "Do it again!" My voice cut through the air.

  The servant trembled, bowing before me.

  " everything again! With no powers at all! Use your hands!" I anded, my expression as rigid as the stone arouhis marble came from Olympus itself! I want it fwless!"

  I tinued my iion, my gaze sharp, every detail weighed uhe burden of my judgment. Nothing could fall short of perfe. He deserved nothihan absolute glory.

  "Mother os." A deep voice called to me, and as I turned, I saw Prometheus approag. He was in his humanoid form, just like me. Our Sn, though capable of taking a colossal form of unimaginable height, still chose to remain as a human. A symbol of trol, of serenity... and I, as his devotee, would never dare to appear rger in presence or stature than him.

  "Ho-how is Sn Icarus?" Prometheus asked, hesitation in his voice revealing the respect he held. In the past, they had been close friends. Now, however, Prometheus no longer ehe Sn’s chambers, as he felt he no longer belohere. His admiration for Icarus kept him at a distance, being a guardian, even reprimanding other Titans who dared to approach.

  I alone had the honor of crossing those doors. To speak, even in whispers, with Sn Icarus.

  "Ugh... he doesn't even pay attention to me anymore..." murmured Themis, appearing beside us with a sulking expression. "I used to enjoy drinking with the Sn... but now he... doesn't even go out to party with me and hunt animals."

  "Don’t speak like that!" Prometheus’s voice sounded sharp. "Have more respect when speaking of Sn Icarus! That’s why I’m the favorite servant. Twenty years ago, he personally asked me to fetch him coffee!" he said, puffing out his chest with pride.

  Themis blushed, g her fists.

  "S-Sn Icarus... o me sit on his p when I was sad... and talked to me until I stopped g!" she retorted proudly, though there was a sincere gleam of nostalgia in her eyes.

  "OH, YOU FOOL!" I excimed, fury burning in my chest. "I should be the oting on Sn Icarus’s p!"

  Themis let out a mog ugh before, in a fsh of silver light, transf into a squirrel, running across the hall with her high-pitched voice eg, "I’m his favorite!"

  I gritted my teeth, watg as the small creature vanished between the ns.

  Prometheus, oher hand, was already kneeling on the floor, scrubbing the carpet with a linen cloth.

  "That stupid Themis... I don’t want to see A SINGLE HAIR on this carpet! Everything must be fwless for the Sn!"

  ***

  I tinued my task with an almost obsessive dedication, iing every er of the city with sharp eyes. The crystal-clear waters were purified when I summohe sea creatures, which swam in perfect syny, sing every trapurity. My whispers echoed through the winds, summoning the spirits to prevent the trees from shedding leaves onto the ground.Everything had to be perfect.

  The only pce that remained untouched was the entrao an old sewer, left undisturbed. Standing before it, I felt a chill run down my spine.

  “This is where my Sn grew up…” I murmured, my voice softly eg against the damp walls.

  I approached, my fingers gliding reverently over the worn stones until I reached the entrao a small room withiuhe air there felt heavier, imbued with the memories of the past.

  “For today... this pce will remain sealed.”

  I took a step bad snapped my fingers. The stones respoo my and, moving with precision until a solid wall sealed the passage. Around me, a garden bloomed instantly: silver roses and emerald vines iwining, transf that fotten spato a sanctuary.

  Cyl City pulsed with celebration.

  The annual festival had begun. Bas stretched across the city, with tables den with meticulously prepared delicacies. Music echoed through the cobbled streets, where humans danced and ughed, celebrating the greatness of our Sn and the city's anniversary. But from atop the pace, I watched it all... and it still wasn’t enough.

  “They’re not happy enough!” I growled to myself, my hands ched at my sides.

  Below, in the royal gardens, iial human figures gathered under silk opies, while elemental beings served as butlers, moving gracefully among the guests. Every dish, every goblet, repared with the fi quality: pnts grown uhe purest sunlight and animals raised in the perfeviro.

  Still, something was missing.

  “Do you know where Sn Icarus is?” Prometheus appeared beside me, his brow furrowed in .

  “Where else would he be? In his chambers. He only es out at the end of the party... as always,” I replied, though the certainty of his arrival didn’t ring true in my voice.

  He hesitated, uneasy.

  “Prometheus... What is it?”

  He took a deep breath, avoiding my gaze.

  “Sn Icarus... he’s already left the throne room.”

  The reality hit me like a cold bde.

  “Excuse me?”

  The sharp sound of a snap echoed through the pace. Each goblet on the baables cracked in unison, the crystal shattering into tiny luminous shards.

  “Expin yourself now, Prometheus.”

  “I... I went to check the hall o time today, for the huh time, and... the door en. He wasn’t there.”

  My expression hardehe world around me seemed to freeze for a moment.

  “Why was I not informed of this?!”

  I strode toward a servant, my gaze fiery aless.

  “Sn Icarus left his chambers and you didn’t alert me?! What’s the expnation for this failure?”

  The servant trembled, stammering.

  “I... I... Lady os, I didn’t know... I simply... felt the urge to do other tasks. I... fot about that room...”

  “Fot? Are you telling me... you fot your only duty?! Fot to serve our Sn?!”

  Others approached, nervous, their trembling voices eg.

  "Lady os... we feel the same... as if... it were impossible to remember the room... suddenly, it... just disappeared from our minds..."

  Prometheus, thoughtful, brought his hand to his . "It must have been... the Sn himself. He probably didn’t want to be disturbed. He used his power to erase the presence of the servants from the room... without them notig."

  The fury in my chest subsided, turning into a wave of unease.

  “That makes sense...” I whispered, g my fists. “But... where is he now?”

  Without waiting for a response, I began running through the hallways, the ey boots filling the pace. Every door, every er, I searched with growing desperation. The royal chambers, the kits, the gardens... evehrooms.

  Nothing.

  “Sn Icarus... I o find him!”

  The ey went into alert. Aquatic creatures emerged from the depths of the sea, while flocks of birds cut through the sky, their magical eyes sing every inch of the nd. Elemental spirits searched through the shadows, while the Titans dispersed in search of their master.

  ***

  “Is he here…?” I whispered, my voice barely an eidst the pulse of power I could feel.

  The festival tinued in full swing, with streets filled with civilians dang, eating, and celebrating, oblivious to the magnitude of the oruly walking among them. But I could feel it. No matter how subtle my Sn’s presence was, even when he deliberately suppressed his divine aura to remain hidden, I was the only one among them who could sense him.

  As I moved through the crowd, I noticed the gurning toward me. My robes, my human form, were known throughout the City of Cyl. The silver glow in my eyes, my impeccable posture — everything was a symbol of absolute power. And they k.

  Some fell to their knees, murmuring words of devotion. Others hesitated, as if they wao offer me gifts but feared getting too close.

  Pathetic.

  I ighem. Every single one of them. My focus was solely on finding him.

  “Damn it!” I growled in frustration.

  The disfort in my chest grew, a burni of anger. I couldn’t afford to be distracted. I closed my eyes ahe magic flow. With a sihought, I became invisible, dissolving into the shadows. But it wasn’t enough.

  I transformed my shape. My face altered, my skin aures molding into something unreizable. Now, I appeared to be just another ordinary human owerless, without glory. A mere mortal.

  I made myself visible again and tinued moving through the people, their gazes no longer on me.

  His energy was close.

  I passed by dawirling to the music, silver trays carryiic fruits and wines, children running through the streets lit by golden nterns. The whole city seemed to breathe in harmony.

  But then I saw him.

  Sitting.

  Oeps of a stoaircase, he was there. My Sn.

  And beside him, a human child.

  The shock stole my breath. How could no oice?! How dared they ighe presence of the one who shaped the sky and the earth?!

  “I’m going to kill these humans!” I muttered through ched teeth, my blood boiling. “They should be kneeling before him!”

  I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. No... I o calm down. trol my emotions. His serene presehere was enough to remind me of my pce.

  I straightened my shoulders.

  I hardened my gaze.

  And then I fshed the most charming smile I could muster.

  Am I pretty enough?

  Simple clothes. Humaures.

  Damn... I’ve spent the st few moments sculpting every detail of my face as os... and now he’s going to see me in this patheti.

  But none of that mattered.

  I o reach him.

  I took calcuted steps toward him.

  And then I saw him... smiling.

  o him, a little girl, a mere mortal, was ughing while talking to him, as if they were... friends. A frail little girl, her hair disheveled, smiling at him as if they were... equals.

  “The sky... I like the sky more than the sea,” she said ily, swinging her feet as she spoke with him. “The sky I look at every day... but the sea is far away.”

  He tilted his head, p her childish words with a patiehat seemed... divine.

  “If you want... I bring the sea closer to the city,” he answered softly.

  The little girl let out a crystalline giggle.

  “That’s not possible. Only those who live in that pace do those things.” She poi our pa the horizon.

  He smiled, serene as always.

  “But I live in that pace.”

  And she ughed at what he said, as if she didn’t believe him.

  She ughed!

  “How funny you are, sir.”

  I almost froze.

  How... how dare this... this... filthy humao him like that? Without reverence, without fear?!

  And then came the final blow.

  “A-are you going to eat that?”

  The wretched girl poi his pte.

  He simply nodded, extending the pte.

  “Would you like some? I o for fun. I’m not hungry.”

  NO! NO! NO!

  She took something from my Sn’s pte!

  She dared... touch... the food... of my Sn.

  My fists ched, my teeth grinding. The air around me began to vibrate, almost distorted by the suppressed power.

  I... I will kill this filthy creature.

  I ted.

  Twelve seds.

  TWELVE SEDS!

  That was how long she spent leaning against his arm. How dare she do that?

  “Where do you live?” my Sn’s voice echoed, soft, almost gentle.

  The little girl, with her big i eyes, answered simply:

  “I just live... somewhere”

  He furrowed his brow, analyzing her words with that serene and deep gaze.

  “You don’t have a home?”

  Before she could respond, a rough voiterrupted the moment:

  "Hey! Get off my stairs! Go eat somewhere else!"

  The blood in my veins boiled.

  The audacity!

  That filthy human dared to order my Sn off a stoep as if he were any beggar?

  I felt the divine aura pulse within my chest, ready to reduce the ereet to ashes.

  I will kill them all... Now.

  But then...

  He saw me.

  His eyes rose in my dire, and with a simple haure—calm, delicate, almost imperceptible—he anded me not to interfere.The fury within me silenced. Against my will, but it silenced.

  The little girl stood up, pulling at the hem of her dress carelessly.

  “We better leave, sir...” she said, her voice pure, not uanding the gravity of the situation.

  My Sn rose with the same calm demeanor, taking the nearly empty pte in his hands. The two of them began walking, leaving the steps behind.

  I followed, invisible among the crowd. Every fiber of my being screamed to annihite that despicable human and the filthy girl right after. How dare they treat him like that?

  But I stayed silent, watg.

  They stopped in front of a trash bin. The pte they carried was emptied there, the a so mu felt wrong ing from him.

  “I live in a house, but not in this city,” the girl expined, fiddling with her fingers. “I live in a vilge in the forest.”

  He looked at her, genuinely ied.

  “How did a little girl like you end up in this city?”

  She smiled as if it were obvious.

  “I took a caravan for the city’s anniversary. They serve free food for a week. I thought it would be fun.”

  He shook his head, his eyes softening.

  “And where will you stay?”

  “The inns are all free here. I choose any of them,” she answered, her eyes sparkling, too io realize who she was talking to.

  For a moment, my Sn smiled.

  “Impressive… you thought of everything,” he murmured to himself.

  They tinued walking, the crowd around them oblivious to the presence of the greatest being alive.

  “If you have a home,” he said after a while, “then why did you say you just live somewhere?”

  The little girl shrugged, starting to skip, her dress swaying with the light movement.

  “I spend more time outside my house than at home.”

  He frowned.

  “Why?”

  The girl stopped skipping, looking at the stones beh her feet, hesitant.

  “My father... he’s not a good person.”

  Silence fell over the se, but my Sn...

  He didn’t hesitate.

  “If you want, I kill your father.”

  The girl looked at him, surprised.

  “That wouldn’t be wise, sir. Crimes are prohibited. Sn Icarus would e and kill you in the worst ossible.”

  He remained silent for a moment... then responded:

  “But I am Sn Icarus.”

  She burst into ughter.

  “You tell a lot of jokes, sir.”

  I wao scream.

  She’s ughing at him! HOW DARE SHE?!

  But he... he almost seemed... relieved.

  Her ughter seemed to disarm something inside him, a fra of the weight he always carried.

  The little girl bit her bottom lip, hesitating.

  “I don’t want anything to happen to my father,” she tinued, her voice quieter. “I just wanted... for him to be a good father. He became like this after my mother died.”

  The expression on my Sn’s face shifted.

  Subtle, but I noticed.

  That old, familiar pain resurfaced in his gaze, like a shadow haunting his immortal being.

  “That’s no excuse…” he said softly, but then paused, looking at her more deeply, more humanly.

  “How did you deal with your mother’s death?”

  She sighed, looking up at the sky.

  “I just accepted it... but I know one day I’ll see her. When I die.”

  Ignorance...

  Pure human ignorance...

  “My mother would brio the city’s anniversary, but when she left…” she tinued, a small mencholic smile f on her face. “That’s why I came... and tonight... I remembered her... and it hurt...”

  They kept walking, silence reigning.

  And then she whispered, almost like a fession:

  “That’s why I like the sky... because I know she’s up there.”

  I silently raised my eyes to the same sky.

  And I khe truth.

  Above the clouds, there was nothing.

  No paradise. No embrace.

  Above, there was only the infinite void.

  Those who die do not return.

  And if they do return...

  They do not return as they were.

  What es back from the dead... is something brokeeriorated.

  Death was an unbreakable cycle, a fate even the gods did not dare challenge.

  That’s why even they feared death.

  And there, beside that ignorant human, I saw in my Sn’s eyes the memory of a pain far too ao heal.