Ghost of Apollo

Prologue

"You have crossed me for the last time, Apollo. You have not been fulfilling your duties, a crime not seen since Persephone was given to Hades to be his bride and Demeter was not told, so she left the plants of the world to die." Lord Zeus thundered as he sat atop his throne. I knew that I had royally screwed up this time. I had been 'playing' with a nymph instead of driving the sun chariot like I was supposed to. Thankfully, Artemis covered for me by causing a total eclipse that day, but Zeus was still beyond mad. The mortals knew that something was up, because it took so long for the  eclipse to end.

"Forgive me Lord Zeus. It will not happen again." I took an extremely formal tone with my father, hoping that the formality would lessen my punishment. Usually, it doesn't work, but I can hope.

" You are right. Because I have decided your punishment. It shall be delivered to you soon. But right now, you are to attend to your duties as God of the Sun. Go now, and give the mortals the light of the day." Zeus dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I quickly walk out of the throne room. As I step out into the courtyard, my sister approaches me.

"Well, how did it go?" Artemis asks as we walk towards the Sun Stables. "Do you know what your punishment is going to be?"

"Not well. He's upset with me. No, upset is too weak of a word. He's furious with me. He has decided that I have to not know my punishment until the end of the day, when you take over with the moon chariot." I respond as I give her a look. "Besides the whole shirking my duties thing, apparently that nymph was one of his 'friends' and I stole her away from him or something."

"Oh, yeah, probably not the best thing you could have done." Artemis cringes. Zeus doesn't take kindly to his 'friends' being taken from him. "Well, the worst he could do is confine you in your chambers, only letting you out to do your duties, right?"

"Um, I think he can do a bit worse. I'll be lucky if I don't get sent to Tartarus for a few weeks." I shudder at the thought. "Now Artemis, I need to do my job before Zeus notices that I'm distracted again."

"Okay! Good luck!" She says with a false sincerity and turns away, vanishing into a spray of silver. I knew that it was her who told Zeus where I was when he asked where I was.

I walk into the stables, hoping that something would happen during the day to distract Zeus from my punishment. It's happened before. My horses were in a frenzy, probably because of how stressed I was. Once I calmed them down and attached them to the chariot, I took off to light the world and bring the mortals day.

This is best part of my day. (Haha, sun god pun) I love looking down on the world and seeing what changes from day to day. The mortals are so interesting with their buildings, trying to reach the sky. Their cities are so much larger than they used to be as well, sprawling across the land. Cities such as London, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles are also quite interesting, although the pollution caused by the cities are causing so many problems for all mortals, not just those in the cities. The deforestation of the world is also disturbing. If the mortals don't stop soon, they won't have enough resources found in those forests to survive. It is causing Demeter and Pan stress, along with the forest nymphs and meadow nymphs. Their realms are being destroyed. Seeing the world is almost enough to make me forget my punishment waiting for me back in Zeus' throne room.

After I finish with my duties as God of the Sun, I return to Zeus' throne room for punishment. I hope that he will have forgotten my punishment, but I am expecting the worst. Ganymede, the cupbearer for Zeus, ushers me in, a smirk on his face. I've never really liked him, he got a really big head after being chosen to serve Zeus.

Once inside the throne room, I bow deeply before Zeus until he tells me to rise and face my punishment.

"I have decided that for punishment for shirking your duties, that you shall be stripped of your Godhood for an indefinite period of time and shall be sent to live with the mortals. You shall keep your immortality and some of your abilities, mainly those to do with music and healing, but you will still be able to get sick. Are we understood?"

"Yes, Lord Zeus. I understand perfectly." I hear myself say. I am in a state of shock. Out of all the possible punishments that he could have given me, I never expected this one. I was to become an immortal mortal? Sent away from my family and friends? This was a cruel punishment, and not one I was sure I would be able to stand.

"Now leave." Zeus dismisses me.

I am taken from the throne room forcefully, and am taken deeper into Zeus' palace. I remember little of the palace, only that there is a portal into the mortal realm. The beings that push me through the portal were created specifically to strip the Gods of their power just by touching them, and Zeus uses them as his bailiffs. I tumble down to Earth with a comet tail, fearful of what will become of me in the realm of mortals. I close my eyes, and brace myself for impact in one of the Great Lakes of North America.

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Author's Note:

Hi! I hope that you enjoyed the prologue of my new story! I know that I probably shouldn't be starting a new story right now, but the inspiration was there, so I took it. I will probably not be on as much as I should with this story, but life sucks, so we deal with it. As for the lake Apollo falls into, I was thinking Lake Michigan, off the coast of Leland, in between South Manitou Island and the mainland. I think that Apollo would fit right in with the locals of Leland, although I don't think he would care for Fishtown too much.

So yeah, I'll see you soon!

-LB