Page 53 of Orpheus
My eyes slowly drifted up to see Apollo holding a golden bow in his hand with a smile on his face. I then fell to the ground, but with my lips curled into a grin as I passed out.
When I came to, I opened my eyes and found myself still laying in the luscious green fields, besides the viscous flowing Styx River. Immediately, my hands moved to my chest to feel the arrow that was sticking out of it. But much to my amazement, nothing was there. There was no open wound. No laceration. No blood.
Did I dream that I had an arrow penetrate me? Was any of it real or was it all just a complete figment of my imagination? It must have been, because if it had really happened, I would already be across the River of Styx and on my way journeying through the Underworld in search of Eurydalos.
This meant that I was still alive. What if the solution of me dying was not able to be accomplished? I then realized that even if I did die and make it into the Underworld, did that necessarily mean I would be able to find and be with Euyrdalos? The kingdom of the dead was vast and who knows where my lover was within it? Would we ever meet even if I were living there among the dead?
I was so confused and lost once again. But as my vision completely came to and my awareness fully heightened, I glanced across the field at Apollo. My eyes widened when I saw that the golden bow that I had imagined him using to pierce the arrow through me with was now in his grasp.
So, I wasn’t dreaming then, I thought to myself. But none of this made sense. If Apollo did hold his bow, then it meant he did strike me with his arrow. If this was the case, then where was the arrow? Why was it not sticking out of my chest? Why was I not bleeding and dead? Where had the arrow gone to?
But before I could rationalize everything, a trickling noise in the river behind me diverted my attention. I turned back around only to see Charon rowing his boat towards the land of the living. He held out his wrinkly hand to me. “Payment is required for you to cross,” he informed me once again.
“I have no coins,” I stated. “I told you this just several moments ago.”
I then emptied the pockets within my tunic to prove to him that I had nothing to give. The only difference was that as I did place my hands within my tunic, I felt two hard circular objects inside it. I reached to pull them out and was surprised to see that they were two silver tokens.
“Wait… How…?” I could not understand where they had come from.
Charon’s charcoal eyes gleamed over the coins I held in my hand. “Thatis the payment I require,” he stated.
I had no idea what to make of this. I craned my neck to view Apollo in the distance, who still stood grinning at me. He gave me a quick nod, as if telling me togo on. I returned my attention back to the decayed ferryman, who remained holding out his palm to me. Reluctantly, and unsure of how to proceed, I extended my hand and dropped the two tokens into his.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” he stated. “Board the vessel so we can be off!” Charon instructed, rushing me.
“But I thought no living mortal could enter the Underworld more than once?” I expressed to him.
“Yes. That’s true. But you are not a living mortal. Now get into this boat before I depart without you,” he warned me.
I stepped aboard his dirty brown vessel as he advised.
Was I… dead? I couldn’t be. I still felt alive. When someone dies, I assumed they were empty and had a complete shift in personality and change of heart. But I hadn’t altered even in the slightest bit. The wheels in my head then began to turn. I must have been a part of the dead now if Charon was allowing me to cross the River of Styx. That meant that Apollo did shoot an arrow at me. So, when I woke up… did that mean…
I tried not to think about the morbid scene any further. What was done was done. All that mattered now was that I was on my way across the river and to the Underworld as Charon began paddling away.
I looked over the green plains once more and back at Apollo, who called out to me. “Farewell, Orpheus. And know that your story will be passed on in the upper world for years to come. You are a true hero and one of a kind. I am glad you finallyfound yourselfafter all these years,” he stated as his last parting words to me.
For all the grief and despise I held for Apollo over the recent years, I truly owed him everything. Not only did he guide me into becoming the greatest musician the world ever knew, but he also did his best to help me get back to Eurydalos, even if it was against his own better judgment. I was so grateful to the god and I hoped he truly knew that as I departed for the Underworld forever.
Once Charon approached the shore of the land of the dead, I rose out of my seat and climbed out of the boat. “Thank you,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I know I have nothing more to offer you, but could you play me one more song? I’ve never heard such a beautiful sound in all my life. I would be honored to hear it again.”
I could not help but warmly smile at him. I retrieved my golden lyre, which I was surprised that I still had in my possession even as a dead man, and began playing it for him for several minutes.
Once my tune was done, the ferryman bowed his head to me. “Thank you for that. Only rarely do I ever get to experience such a marvelous thing. I hope you find what you are searching for in the Underworld. Now be gone!” He lifted his hands to shoo me away.
And so I stepped into the kingdom of the dead once again. As my feet carried me onward, I didn’t dare look back. I accepted that my past was fully behind me. I needed to move forward in this new unpredictable situation I was in. I had no idea how long I would remain as robust and keen of my senses as I was now. Hopefully, I would not turn out to be as cold and lost as Calais was when I last saw him in the Underworld. I could not bear to think of myself coming to that.
As I navigated the rough terrain of the Underworld, I held my head high and maintained my determination. My life as a mortal was very short, but nevertheless, I packed it with nothing but outrageous adventures and even managed to become a hero when all was said and done. And if I was able to accomplish all of that in such a brief amount of time, who knows what I was capable of in this eternity I had ahead of me roaming the land of the dead? But there was one thing I was certain of: I would put on a show that the Underworld had yet to ever bear witness to!
EPILOGUE
Eurydalos
Truth be told, the Underworld was the most gorgeous and peaceful place I had ever been to in all my life. At least the realm of Elysium was that, for me. I was constantly surrounded by the most colorful of flowers, beautiful and tranquil skies and weather. A sun that was permanently fixed in a set location on the horizon, locked in place to provide a constant warmness over the lands. Lakes and rivers here were cerulean and crystal clear blue, unlike their murky charcoal counterparts like the River of Styx in the further deepness of the Underworld.
Elysium was a place where only the greatest of men and women from the surface ended up in the afterlife. Yet somehow, I was here among them and I couldn’t understand quite why.
