A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 10: APOLLO'S GIFT

Xander came indeed from another time, another place, another universe even – a time, a place, a universe where human beings lived in the mercy of the gods, where sorcery abound, and the gods – from their seat in the famed Olympus mountain – bickered, fought for influence as they meddled in the ways of human life.

He was Xander of Halgard, the brother of King Rovan of Halgard – a king and a trusted servant of Zeus, the king of the gods at the throne of Olympus.

Halgard laid in between the human world and the gods' world, a bridge between the two, a kingdom favored not only by Zeus, but also by Apollo, the god of music, dance, arts, inspiration. How did that come to be? The story was as follows ...

Zeus had been known to be utterly promiscuous. He fathered many deities, fairies, demigods, to name a few, through his extramarital affairs – secretive or not – much to the chagrin of Hera, the queen of the gods, his official consort.

To understand Halgard and what happened to it, two gods became important: Ares and Apollo.

Ares was the son of Zeus from Queen Hera, thus his official son.

Ares was the god of war. Brutal, callous, and with his mother Hera's doting love and protection.

On the other hand, Apollo was the son of Zeus from Leto, a goddess lower in status than Hera. Hera hated Leto and tried to prevent the birth of Apollo and his twin sister, Artemis, the goddess of hunt and moon. Hera failed, and Apollo was born, became a major god in Olympus with much of the backing of Zeus who adored the perfect son Apollo more than the troublemaker Ares.

Apollo was everything Ares was not. Apollo was handsome, cultured, intelligent, and he held dominion over arts, music, dance, and the muses of creativity were under his command. He was truly Zeus' one favourite son.

While Ares was a drunkard, rude, scandalous, and devilish.

Zeus and Ares loathed each other. The king of the gods never really saw Ares as a worthy son, and Ares retaliated by always finding ways to undermine his father. He loved chaos, adored discord, and would do anything to put Zeus to shame.

The jealousy over his father's favouritism toward Apollo soured the relationship between Ares and Apollo. They did not get along well, and their relationship hit a new low when Apollo beat Ares in a wrestling game in the Olympics of the gods.

The family drama became more intense when one day, Ares was caught having an affair with the beautiful Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was the wife of the god Hephaestus, his own brother (Hephaestus was also the son of Zeus and Hera).

The affair between Ares and Aphrodite caused a major scandal in Olympus. Zeus was furious, and swore to punish Ares severely. Scorned Hephaestus caught Ares with a net, but the cunning Ares managed to escape to the world of human: To Halgard.

Ares could not use his magic in the world of human otherwise he would be easily detected by Zeus, Hephaestus, and the other gods who were trying to hunt him down. He hid in the garden of the palace of King Metiocles of Halgard, laid low, disguised himself as a disheveled elderly gardener.

But his disguise failed to escape the keen-eyed, smart Apollo. Apollo seized that knowledge as a chance win more of Zeus' favor, and further cast his half-brother Ares out in the cold.

Apollo came to King Metiocles in a dream, asked the king to believe him, and told the king about Ares' disguise. Apollo did not want to enmesh himself in Halgard (the gods tried their best not to embroil themselves directly in the human world, it was considered "not godlike" to do that, though not always successful), thus he asked the king to help him capture wayward Ares and promised him a great reward if he did.